The Power Of The Blog

In yesterday's blog post I complained about the Sunshine Coast missing out on the rain which effected areas south of Brisbane. I spoke too soon! These Blogs are very powerful things, turning comparatively dry days into days of heavy rain! Yesterday's post worked a treat!

This morning I tipped 75 mls of rain (3") out of the rain gauge. We had heavy showers on and off all day. I turned the water diverter (which diverts water running down the downpipes into the pool) off after about 20 minutes the pool filled so quickly! And another little advantage of the wet weather was that it was a cool day with temps around 24 or 25.

I am not riding this morning as though the peak of the rain has passed, we still get the occasional short and very sharp heavy shower of rain. One little shower this morning only went for a minute but dropped 1.5mls of rain (6/100ths). It would have totally saturated anyone who was foolish enough to be bikeriding.

The photos don't provide a full picture of just how heavy a shower can be here. You will probably need to click on each photo to get a bigger view to see the rain, then just click on Back to return to this page.

It's Pouring Rain South Of Brisbane.

We were promised dark skies and rainy periods for today. However as I type we have had less than 2mls of rain (8/100ths of an inch) while areas on the Gold Coast about 180kms (110miles) south of us have had up to 250mls or 10" of rain overnight. And the rain is now heading inland. Our skies are grey and overcast as this photo shows but the heavens just will not open up! After a hot and sticky 32 yesterday some drenching rain would certainly refresh everything here on the Sunshine Coast.

Yesterday afternoon was an air conditioner afternoon! The house warms up quickly at this time of the year and as the humidity rises things become more uncomfortable. I managed an hour or so in the pool which was extremely pleasant.

I did a presentation yesterday at the Computer Club on Media Players, small TV add ons which allow you to play many of your photos, music and movie files from your PC on to your TV. You transfer the files you want to play on to an external hard drive from your PC. You then attach the Hard Drive to the Media Player which in turn is attached to your TV. Media Players are ideal for showing movies you have downloaded from the internet. This is an illegal practice and is severely frowned upon at the Computer Club. Needless to say I had to tread carefully with my presentation so as not to upset some of the Computer Club hierarchy.

The presentation went well and a couple of people were up speaking with me after the presentation asking more questions.

Last night we watched The Hurt Locker, one of the nominations for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Trish and I have seen quite of few of the nominated movies but there isn't anything we have seen which gets close to the quality of the 2009 nominations. We haven't seen Avatar (and probably won't bother with it - it isn't our type of movie) nor have we seen "Precious" though it is there on the internet. The story line just doesn't grab either of us. We have seen the cartoon movie "Up", and George Clooney's "Up in the Air" and the Coen Brother's "A Serious Man". Again none of them are as good as Gran Torino, The Changeling and other movies which missed out in 2009.

Bit Of A Laugh

A group of 40 year old buddies discuss where they should meet for dinner.

Finally it is agreed upon that they should meet at the Gausthof restaurant because the waitress's there have low cut blouses and nice breasts.

10 years later, at 50 years of age, the group meets again and once again they discuss where they should meet. Finally it is agreed upon that they should meet at the Gausthof because the food there is very good and the wine selection is good also.

10 years later at 60 years of age, the group meets again and once again they discuss where they should meet. Finally it is agreed upon that they should meet at the Gausthof because they can eat there in peace and quiet and the restaurant is smoke free.

10 years later, at 70 years of age, the group meets again and once again they discuss where they should meet. Finally it is agreed upon that they should meet at the Gausthof because the restaurant is wheel chair accessible and they even have an elevator.

10 years later, at 80 years of age, the group meets again and once again they discuss where they should meet. Finally it is agreed upon that they should meet at the Gausthof because that would be a great idea because they have never been there before.

What Has Been Happening!

After the rain last weekend, the level of humidity has risen. Temperatures have been in the high 20's the last couple of days but it feels a lot warmer with the weather being hot and sticky. And it looks like more rain is on its way. This photo doesn't do the dark color of the clouds justice but it seems a storm is brewing. This will build up over the next day or so till eventually a storm does come.

Wet weather is tipped for the weekend.

It was our turn to repay some people for their hospitality over the last 12 months. We had previously been hosted by a Computer Club colleague Peter Gilks and his partner Cheryl, and also by Enrica (one of Trish's sewing buddies) and her husband Fabio. We had them all over for a meal last night. Trish prepared some curries with all the add-ons and we feasted and chatted (and enjoyed a few drinks too). It was a great night but the curries did not mix well with the warm humid weather. The air conditioner sorted that out though!

Fabio was awarded an "Order of Australia" for Services to Medicine in the recent Australia Day Honors. So there was another reason to celebrate.

All three of us are into movies from the internet so some time was spent around the computer!

Wet & Windy

I have tipped about 40mls out of the rain gauge the last two days. It hasn't been non stop rain, just lots of very heavy showers. It has been accompanied by strong winds too which make cleaning the pool a waste of time. As soon as it is cleaned, more grit, bark and mulch blows back in to take its place. It isn't too bright outside right now as this photo shows.

There hasn't been any bike riding the last two days as it has either been too wet or much too windy.

I popped around to a Computer Club Member's home yesterday and sorted out a problem or two for her. I reinstalled a copy of Nero so she could burn CD's again. For some reason it had stopped working but I am pleased to report all is up and running again.

Last week my hearing aid stopped working. It seems to rust up quickly especially after bike riding or something where I perspire a lot. I tried to remove some rust from the battery contacts with a cotton bud but inadvertently bent them. In trying to reposition the contacts they became loose. I put it in to be repaired expecting the bill to be well over $100 as the aid is now out of warranty. It came back from the repairers in Sydney and all I had to pay was the courier fees.

I attend the Hearing Aid place once a year for a general hearing checkup and a check of my hearing aid. I went in yesterday to have the Annual Checkup and was explaining the rust problem I have. Matt (the audiologist) gave me a a small electronic hearing aid drying box at no charge. Though I paid top dollar for the aid when I bought it, I am doing OK with it now as far as costs are concerned.

Last night we had a meeting for the local Community Association so this morning I updated the website with all the latest arising from last night's meeting. If you want to be bored even more, you can see the update here. I enjoy looking after and updating the website.

Last night we watched an Australian movie called Beautiful Kate. It wasn't too bad at all with quite a sad and bizarre twist in the tale. It starred several Australian actors, Ben Mendlesohn and Bryan Brown as well as Rachel Ward.

I see where the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) now has the 'score' for this movie dropping to 6.7. I guess this reflects the taboo subject of it and the majority of 'voters' who would have been American. It seems that some movies covering controversial subjects score less, where as a feelgood movie appeals more to American IMDB voters and gets better scores.

But this was not always true. The movie "Milk" told the story of the first homosexual elected to public office in USA and was an Academy Award winning movie. It received an excellent score at IMDB!