A Glorious Day Outside!

It is mid afternoon and the photo shows our little weather station and our current temperatures.  It is around 25° outside according to the weather station.  This maybe a little high because with all the pavers and concrete outside, this can tend to exaggerate the temperature.  Anyway, it sure is pleasant. 

Despite it being nice and warm now it was around a chilly 5° at 7 am this morning.  I waited till almost 9 am before riding hoping it would warm up a little.  I did a little over 19k's this morning!

Footy was sad for me over the weekend but good for Trish.  You could tell my team was in for a rough night when one of the opposition players kicked the ball out of mid air from 20 or 30 metres and it sailed through the goals.  The signs just weren't good, the writing was on the wall!

We continue to move along nicely with Trish involved were her Arts Centre stuff keeping her busy and me learning more and more about TV boxes, having bike rides and messing around with Community Association stuff.  It keeps us with plenty to occupy our minds and keep us on our toes.

Speaking about TV Boxes, we have discovered the TV Series "Suits" so we spend much of our TV time watching episode after episode of 'Suits', intermingled from time to time with a movie.

We are beginning to get our heads around heading down to Melbourne on August 17th for around 10 days or so.  I am hoping to get to the footy at the MCG on a few of those days.  We won't have our own car down there so we will be a little ham strung when it gets to getting out and about.

We look like spending around 3 or 4 nights with Chris and family and the rest of the time with Kate and the Bartholomeusz's.  Kim is back in Melbourne and looking forward to getting back into her St Kilda unit in a week or so.  Having gotten rid of a lot of stuff prior to moving to Perth she now has the task of re setting everything up.  A TV is on the shopping list and a 49" unit from Kogan at around $450 delivered looks a pretty good deal.

So things just roll along.

I'm Good

Our internet is all up and running again.  After a day or so of trying to sort out the dropouts and lower speeds over the phone, it was necessary for a Tech to physically check things locally.  I received a call around 1pm on Wednesday saying the tech was in the area and would be checking the line out.  A moment or so later the internet went off and stayed that way for well over an hour.

Eventually I got a call back from him saying our phone line had numerous faults and he had spent some time sorting them all out.  All had been sorted and the internet should be fine again.  After a few flaky times over Thursday with download speeds varying markedly, I decided to reboot the modem/router this morning (Friday) and it seems to be fine again with things settling down and running more consistently.

We have been through one of the coldest mornings for the year this morning.  Evidently it was around 5° or 6° but I am not sure it was quite that cold here.  The gusty wind has died down but still seems to be blowing directly off the Australian Alps because it is freezing outside if you are in the wind.

I was in the midst of the wind during my 16k bike ride this morning and I was fairly pleased when I had finished.

And yesterday Thursday I was told by the doctor that my breathing and slight case of exercise induced asthma was perfectly under control.  All I need now is the second crown to be fitted by the dentist in a couple of weeks and everything will be under control. All should be OK for our trip to Melbourne later in August.

Trish is at Quilters and then out for lunch with the girls.  I am at home keeping warm and eating any left over Indian food from the restaurant last night.  Just the two of us headed out to a new Indian/Nepalese restaurant in town here.  The food was OK and the place itself was great.  Give us some warmer weather and it will be a great place to eat.

Having travelled to India a couple of times we find the food we get at Indian Restaurants here at home disappointing after having eaten over there.  The food here is best described as bland Indian food.  In India the taste of the food was intense and was a great experience for the taste buds.

We have air tickets booked for Kuala Lumpur in November and we are looking forward to that enormously.  As usual, a major reason for travelling to Malaysia is to eat!

Footy is on this weekend with my team playing in a top of the table clash over in Adelaide.  It is a very difficult place to win at so it will be tight game.  There's plenty of footy this weekend and I have Computer Club on Saturday as well.  I may take a little time and celebrate my good health with a few beers.

Don't Let The Blue Skies Fool You

It looks great doesn't it?  Lovely blue sky with hardly a cloud to be seen.  Today is one of those "Is but feels like" days.  It is around 21° according to the thermometer but in reality it feels like 13° when you take in the wind chill factor.

It is quite cold outside, it's a jeans and long sleeve polo top sort of a day.  And as the wind is blowing a gale from the south west, it wouldn't be a good day for a bike ride either.

This morning, (Weds) was back to the dentist to have one crown fitted and another tooth prepared with a temporary crown.  I was in the chair for 45 mins, had several pain killing injections having both jobs done.  Though still quite numb right now, my mouth feels quite different with the new tooth and the temporary crown both quite unfamiliar to me.

As the photo above shows it is also a bottle washing day.  I put a brew on Sunday afternoon, bottle washed today instead of a bike ride, and should bottle sometime over the weekend or early next week.  Now I use larger 18x1.125 bottles bottle washing and bottling days are much quicker than they used to be when I did 30x750 ml bottles.

This afternoon's chore is to sit and wait for my Internet Provider's technician to arrive and sort out my broadband connection.  We have been having dropouts with the internet going off and then returning a couple of minutes later.  This has been happening over recent weeks.  Then on Sunday there was a massive drop in my internet speed.  After checking with a neighbour with internet via the same provider, I finally discovered we have a connection problem.

The photo above shows a PC program I have which maps the download of a movie.  You can see by the green there was a connection hiccup, it came back a few seconds later, slowed and then there was the disconnection.  A minute later the connection was re established and the download continued.

I was on the phone to a technician in India on Monday to try to sort it out.  They tried a couple of things which got the speed back and were hopeful the drop out problem would be solved as well.  Sadly the drop outs continued on Tuesday and I made another phone call.  This time it was decided to reset my connection and to get someone to come out and check here onsite.

The guy is due sometime this afternoon (Weds) to sort it all out.  The speed is still great so there is minimal disruption to my internet at the moment.

I did two bike rides yesterday, one for 17k's in the morning and the other 13k ride was during the afternoon.  It filled in the day nicely and gave me a good reason to bottle wash this morning prior to heading off to the dentist.

I saw the cardiologist on Monday and have been given another all clear. I have a spirometry test Thursday afternoon.  So it is a busy health week this week.

The Internet Provider's technician just rang and is due here shortly.

Family Returned to Melbourne

Kate, Arj and the family have returned to Melbourne after spending time with us here on the Sunshine Coast during their mid year school holidays.  We were delighted to see them and hope they enjoyed a brief spell of sunshine and warmer weather up here as well.  We did have the odd wet and cool day despite this being the driest time of the year.

They managed a couple of trips to the beach for a swim but I think James was the only one who braved the July water temperatures.  However the sea water is still around 21° and is much warmer than our pool.

Charli had a medical appointment on Thursday back in Melbourne so they intended a couple of nights stopover on their return trip by car.  The plan was for a final 300k drive on Wednesday and  get home around lunchtime.  But upon their arrival in Tocumwal late in the afternoon, the prospect of another three hours on the road and a mere 300k's followed by a night in their own beds was too great. 

So they completed the return trip in just 2 days.  Kate has also discovered that you don't arrive in Melbourne after 11 hours on the road around 5pm and peak traffic time.  But experience is a great teacher and that won't happen again.

Meanwhile our lives have returned to normal.  I am still nursing wounds to my knee and an elbow as well as my left wrist following the fall from my bike around 10 days ago.  As I get older I tend to use my arms and elbows to get up from chairs so the graze on my right elbow is causing me the most grief.  Though on bike rides, the left wrist, which still shows a little bruising, can ache for a while.

I have managed several bike rides since the family has returned to Melbourne but the cooler weather and sometimes windy conditions make the first kilometre of each ride a bit of a chore.  But once out and on my way I continue to do over 15k's a day.  One day I even rode after lunch when it was decidedly warmer.

Android TV boxes continue to keep me busy as well helping friends out while the Kodi landscape settles down after recent legal threats to major players.  The better addons have gone and now been replaced by others or have changed homes and are again accessible.

I am now spending a little more time with people and getting them to do any updates.  Hopefully with videos etc on the web on how to do things with Kodi, people will be able to do stuff for themselves rather than me pop around every other week to update stuff.

It is a little warmer outside right now so the bike beckons for another ride.

Family Arrive

Though Trish caught up with Kate, Arj and the grandkids a few weeks ago, I haven't seen them since Christmas time.  Despite a close shave with a kangaroo north of Moree, the 1900k trip up from Melbourne went well.  They stopped at "The Dish" (a radio telescope crucial in man's first landing on the moon in the late 60's) just out of Parkes and then enjoyed the hot springs at Moree in northern New South Wales.

If you have ever driven on Australia's country roads you would be aware you have to be on your toes for kangaroos when driving.  So at 100kph a kangaroo can run across in front of you or even run into you.  When surprised they just run, and they run anywhere and are a danger to the unsuspecting driver.

Kangaroos killed by cars and trucks can litter Australian country roads.  Striking a kangaroo can cause incredible damage to a car, in some cases causing the car to be 'written off'.

They arrived in glorious sunshine and 26° warm degrees.  The pool seemed just too inviting for Charli and James.  They were warned it was cold in the water and despite getting under for around 5 seconds James was out drying off and warming up soon after.  Charli waded in up to her chest before common sense took over.

Already James has mastered the Nvidia Shield TV box as well as my programmed harmony remote.  They love the wireless headphones as well.

Home brew stocks took a bit of a hammering last evening and we enjoyed watching the movie "The Dish".  It is really great to have them here.

The internet download will get all used up this month!

Today is again sunny despite some overnight rain so it will be get sorted and then do some exploring around Caloundra.  I don't think having another swim in the pool will on the agenda!

Ouch

The photo is of my left knee.  The right elbow looks similar and there are a couple of toes which don't look so hot as well.

I have a badly bruised wrist to go with it all.  Yep, you've guessed it, it took a tumble from my bike.  It hurts more now than when I did it on Sunday morning.  After the tumble I rode for 23 kilometres.

When you make a turn on your bike you tend to lean into the turn to keep your balance.  So I was doing a bit of a turn and going down the angled gutter when the right pedal plowed into the front lawn. At that stage the bike stopped but I kept going hitting the roadway.

I only rode for a few k's yesterday (Monday) and didn't even bother today thinking I should give my injured bits a chance to recover.  But I should be ready by tomorrow to jump on the bike again.

I mentioned in a recent post that the purchase of the laptop on Ebay fell through.  Ebay had another 15% off EOFY deal going on Friday so this time I got a brand new i5 with 8GB ram for just under $600 delivered for the Arts Centre Association.  It looks like it will arrive tomorrow.  We got a refund for the initial purchase and costs for the 'newer' laptop came out of the refund.

Trish will be reimbursed by the Arts Centre Association for this new laptop.

We are expecting Kate Arj and family to roll in from their 1850k drive from Melbourne sometime from mid afternoon tomorrow Wednesday.  From where they are right now (Moree), it is still another 6 hours to get here.  We have suggested they stop there overnight and drive on here tomorrow.  Moree has heated spring pools and is great place to stop, relax and have a swim.

So the lawn has been mown, blow up beds have been blown up and Trish's Office and sewing room is back to being a bed room.  I think everyone is excited about the impending visit.

Waiting To Ride

The pic here tells it all.  Yes, it sure does get this cool on the Sunshine Coast.  There isn't a cloud in the sky but it is sure chilly out there, too cool for me to set off on a bike ride just yet. It was soon after 7am Sunday when I grabbed this screenshot.

As you can see we expect 21° later today.  Most likely it will be around 16° by 9 am or so, a temperature more likely for a bike ride.

School holidays have begun down south and we are delighted to expect a visit from Kate, Arj and family.  The new car will get a workout and they are driving up and expected here around midweek.  Being in a car means they can please themselves as to how far and to where and when they travel.

They will be with us as long as they wish but the chance to see a little of this country by road could mean a sight seeing trip up and another on the way back is too good to miss this trip.  "The Dish" in Parkes is possibly on their agenda.

My footy team played in a drawn match last night which was a pretty good effort considering the number of crucial top players they were missing.

On the other hand Kodi is keeping me busy as I provide support for a number of people caught up in the current problems as the law and litigation gets busy causing several major players in the Kodi world to pull the pin. But I manage to keep everyone online and watching their favorite shows.

People want to pay me for the help I provide and put money on my "Home Brew Shop Account".  There was $150 there recently meaning I can increase my supply of Bourbon base.  After all Arj is visiting from down south!