It’s Chinese New Year, too. © PJ Croft 2016

Yeah, I’m officially old, 69 today. It’s how you feel, and I sure don’t feel that age. It’s hard to believe. I see they waited for my birthday to announce the proof of gravity waves. I’m known for making a few waves myself.

I’ve been smothered in birthday greetings from former work colleagues and a few others on my Facebook timeline. Gee, it’s nice to have friends. I’m not sure why I don’t get notifications of other people’s birthdays. I’d better get with it so I can offer my greetings to them.

_________________

As I said, I treated myself to a birthday present of a Dell XPS15 laptop with a 15″ Ultra HD screen, capable of 4K display. That makes desktop and laptop both 4K. I won’t be satisfied with anything less now. It’ll have to be a 4K TV soon.

I’ve been out today buying an external USB DVD drive – the laptop doesn’t have one. I also bought a high sensitivity USB wi-fi dongle with an antenna. The hotel I’m going to in Bali says “wi-fi available in public areas”, meaning, not in the rooms. I don’t know how I’d survive without internet 24/7 so I hope this USB stick will pick up the wi-fi signal from the reception area. It was $39. The DVD drive was $45. Amazing how prices have fallen in the past decade.

_________________

People ask me whether I’ve got an Apple iPhone, or a Mac or whatever. Well, this is why I haven’t:

“The [ACCC] competition watchdog says it will ask Apple to urgently explain an error message disabling iPhone users’ handsets and is considering whether it breaches Australian consumer law.  … thousands of iPhone 6 users have received “error 53”, which permanently disables the handset if it detects that a repair has been carried out by a non-Apple technician.” The Guardian, 12 February 2016.

Apple would have to be one of the most arrogant companies on the planet. I refuse to bow to their rules. I only own one Apple product, an iPod, but all its functionality is covered by my Sony phone now, so it sits in the drawer unused. I admire their design, but I’m not going to pay them my money.

_________________

Penang. © PJ Croft 2016

My March home

My birthday present arrived yesterday. It’s a Dell XPS15 laptop. Yep, I went ahead and replaced my eight year old Sony VAIO 13″ with a new 15″. But the kicker, the reason for choosing the 15″ over a 13″, is that the display is UHD, Ultra High Def 3840 x 2160 pixels. That’s four full HD screens! It’s pretty nice, that’s for sure. That means it can play 4K video in all its glory.

The drawbacks so far: it’s a fair bit heavier than the Sony. It’s 2Kg, vs about 1.4Kg. (Update: the Sony is 1.56Kg and the Dell is 2.05Kg, so they’re not that much different.) Doesn’t seem much, but I can’t really pick it up with just the fingers of my right hand, as I’m used to doing with the Sony. The power supply for the Dell adds 450g and the Sony is 350g.

The other drawback is, it’s Windows 10. I hate it. I had Win10 on the old laptop too, so I should be used to it, but I’m not. I can’t see that it’s an improvement over Win 7. I’ll have to stick with it for a year while it’s under warranty, I suppose, but after that I might go back to Win7. But then I’d have to reinstall all the software, which is what I’m doing now, and it takes hours!

___________

Banks again. The ANZ are in the shit again. I mentioned that they lost the court case about excessive late fees on their credit card accounts. That was last week.

This week, yesterday, they are reported to have, allegedly, been colluding with other banks to manipulate the inter bank lending interest rates. This is like the British LIBOR scandal of a couple of years ago, where several traders were convicted. ASIC here are not far from laying charges against a couple of ANZ traders for similar offences.

As one journalist said, by manipulating these rates, the bank makes increased profits and the employees, the ones doing the manipulating, get increased bonuses. As the journo said, they play, we pay.

So, another case of management corruption, but on a far greater scale than any union corruption. Does the Liberal government show any interest, run any royal commission? Of course not! These are their mates.

___________

View from the “dining room” at Kintamani 20 Dec 2015 7pm.

Phew, this heat is pretty bad. Three consecutive days of 40ºC and above so far, with another one to come today (Wednesday). Cooling off to 31C on the weekend, then back to 38C next week. As I said, I’m going to Bali to cool off!

Update: yes, 40.3ºC today, the fourth day in a row above 40deg. It equals the record set in 1933, but we’ve had more days over 40ºC this February than ever before (since records started in 1879.) This is climate change. WA is heating up and drying out. Our dams are essentially dry. We lost more water due to evaporation than we gained from runoff last winter. Scary.

_____________

I’ve been trying to book a rental car for the trip to the airport. Unfortunately I can’t get that $52 I got on the last trip just before Xmas. The best fee I can get is $72, but that’s for a Nissan Micra manual. No thanks. For $84 I can get a Corolla automatic. Not booked yet, better get onto it.

Packing – I’ll leave the tripod behind this time, so that will compensate for the increased weight of the laptop. I’ll really try to cut down on the clothes this time (no Myrtle, I’m not going nude). Since I’m staying in one place, I’ll be able to either do my own washing or get laundry done. It’s cheap if you use a street laundry.

But my CPAP machine weighs 2.3Kg, and adding the 2Kg of the laptop chews up nearly 25% of my allowance before I’ve even started.

______________

And the coincidences (coincidii?) just keep on comin’. Listening to the radio in the car and the song on 6iX was Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline. I switched to the ABC and she said, “Trump and Sanders have had a win. What’s your prediction for Carolina?”

Shazzam.

It’s cloud, not smoke. (C) PJ Croft 2015

_______________

Eight years ago I bought a soft foam/neoprene slip cover for my Sony laptop, but it was too big so it’s sat in a drawer ever since. I nearly threw it out only a couple of months ago. But I’ve just tried it on this new laptop and it’s a perfect fit. A win at last.

______________

Rolex watches are in the news today, which reminds me that I’ve seen an item in a magazine about a new smart watch just out. This is a watch with an LCD or OLED face that can be changed from a normal time display to other info displays. It looks very nice and I was a bit tempted.

But it’s $1,500 (it’s a TAG Heuer). Being so new, it will be superseded within a year to 18 months. What would you do? Put it on the shelf and go for the new model, at another $1,500? This is the problem with new technology, it goes out of date so quickly. Although I’d love to have one of these, I would never pay more than a couple of hundred, at the most.

Wingin’ it. © PJ Croft 2016

Good old Aunty ABC gets it wrong again.

“Global credit ratings agency Moody’s downgrades WA from AA2 to AA1 …”   ABC News web site.

Er, other way around. The downgrade is from AA1 to AA2, as all their radio news bulletins have been saying for the past couple of hours. But, she’ll be right, eh?

_________________

A few months ago I was chatting to a couple of Pommy guys in the pub and they said I should try out the Great British Chippy a few streets away for real British style fish and chips. So much better than Aussie shops, they said. Get real cod, they said. And scampi. The chips are cooked so much better, they said.

I had a visitor last night so I suggested we give ’em a try. I can never justify it when I’m on my own.

Worst fish and chips I’ve ever had. Soggy undercooked chips. No crunch at all. If the fish was cod, I’m a Welshman. That wasn’t cod, it was some local fish for sure. And the price! For one piece of fish and ‘regular’ chips, $16.50. Blimmin’ heck.

They’d run out of scampi, so I ordered haggis. It’s patties, battered and fried. Oily as heck. Quite tasty but I couldn’t handle the fattiness. I couldn’t finish it.

I’ve had FAR better fish and chips, at the place just down the road from my old place in Trigg. They cook ’em in cottonseed oil, giving a lightness, not so oily. And the chips are crunchy, ‘twice cooked’ as they should be.

There’s another fish and chip shop in the main street just walking distance from here. I’ll give him a try next time. I’ll never be going back to the Great British Chippy, that’s for sure.

______________

I watched the Woody Allan movie Blue Jasmine a few days ago. Cate Blanchett gives another fantastic performance. She is one of the great actresses (OK, OK, actors!) of all time, I reckon, up there with Meryl Streep and Lauren Bacall. It’s not a bad movie, worth seeing and it kept me engaged. But loose ends … don’t expect a tidy ending. I give it 8/10.

______________

Some more pics. Now that I’ve found the easy way to convert to jpeg, resize and change the colour space to sRGB in one easy operation, it’s so much faster.

The First Fleet replica ships, Fremantle 1988. © PJ Croft 1988, 2016

Kalbarri, WA 1987. © PJ Croft 1987, 2016

Paris.  © PJ Croft 2008, 2016

Japan. © PJ Croft 1992, 2016

Trigg Beach July 2015, where I used to take the dogs, and swim. They loved it. How I wish I could do that now. © PJ Croft 2016  Sony RX10

“Franchisees are still taking 7-Eleven workers to ATMs to withdraw and pay back wages, and some have resorted to violence and intimidation to deter underpayment claims, a Senate committee has heard.” The Guardian 6/2/16

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/05/7-eleven-workers-beaten-and-forced-to-pay-back-wages-senate-inquiry-hears

This is an extraordinary story of management exploitation of workers who are on student visas and were threatened, I repeat threatened, to accept terrible working conditions on pain of being fired and losing their visas. The owners of the company, in the Guardian’s photo, are extremely wealthy men. They knew what was going on. The ugly story is still coming out, nearly a year after ABC 4-Corners exposed it.

This is Australian business at work. These are the managers that Liberal governments tell us have their workers’ interests at heart. These Liberal governments and politicians tell us we don’t need unions and that unions are corrupt.

Well, I say, it is Australian business and Australian management that is corrupt, much more than a few union leaders. As the economy turns down, more and more cases of management corruption are coming to light.

Another case is that resource companies have lost a legal fight, run by a union, where, when making workers redundant in the downturn, instead of giving the legally required number of weeks notice of the redundancy, the companies have been using workers’ accrued annual leave in the redundancy notice period. For example, where five weeks’ notice might be required by the award or EBA, and the employee is owed three weeks’ annual leave, then the company says, right, you are taking those three weeks annual leave as part of the redundancy notice and we only have to pay you two weeks’ extra pay as redundancy pay. The companies lost the case and the unions are now going to force them to pay the full amounts owing to redundant workers.

Fine upstanding managements, yes? Unions are not needed, no? Bullshit.

_______________

I neglected to mention yesterday that the ANZ Bank lost a court case recently saying that exorbitant late fees on credit card accounts are not on. The ANZ Bank are looking at paying back large amounts to affected customers. Another example of big bank rip-offs.

I got an email from that pillar of rectitude, the Commonwealth Bank the next day.

Peter, say goodbye to credit card late fees.

When life gets busy, it’s easy to let a credit card repayment slip. Setting up AutoPay in NetBank means one less thing to remember every month, as it remembers your repayments for you.

The email heading gives the impression that CBA won’t charge late payment fees. But what they really mean is that if I set up an automatic payment, I won’t be charged these extortionate fees, which will still be payable if I forget. Oh yes, I will still be charged late fees. Yet another slippery move by this slippery bank.

_______________

Well, day three of the heat wave and it hasn’t really started yet. Last Thursday 35, Friday 36, today 35, tomorrow 40, Monday 42, Tuesday 42, Wednesday 41, Thursday 40, Friday 36… Almost unprecedented. Only once before have we had four successive days of 40C or above, in 1930. Phew. I think I’ll head to Bali to cool off.

Thank goodness this house is so well designed. I can’t say I’ve ever found it too hot to sleep, and I never have the air con on at night. Fans are all I need most of the time.

_____________

I had a look for Ford Probes for sale yesterday, and there are only six on the market, and none of them is a 1997 model. Most were 1994s, the first year of production. One looks quite well looked after and is white (my preference), but it’s missing the rear spoiler. Odd. Being a sports car, I shouldn’t want an automatic, but you get used to an auto. Only 135,000Km! They only want $1,800 oops, $3,800. It’s a private sale in South Australia. All the others are up around 235,000Kms and don’t look well maintained.

I have the feeling the good ones are being snapped up by people like me who see the value. It will pay to be vigilant.

__________________

Another view of Trigg Beach from slightly further north. Fremantle in the distance. That rocky promontory in the middle distance is Trigg Island.  OLYMPUS E-PL2 300mm (e) July 2012 © PJ Croft 2016

Jindalee Beach (my beach) April 2015. Those are the wooden stairs that I climb. How I wish I could go into that surf. There’d be no help if I got into trouble. Panasonic FZ70 © PJ Croft 2016

This wasn’t today. It was clear and sunny this morning, beautiful.

Beach stairs again today. Once again, I took ’em slowly to avoid sore thigh muscles. It worked last time. I also went thigh deep in the water but I nearly lost my balance as the sand got eroded away. Still too dangerous for me.

The forecast is for a severe and dangerous heat wave for the next week. It was 35ºC yesterday, same today, then 39ºC, 40ºC, 41ºC, 40ºC and not much different further into the whole of next week. This is unusually hot weather, even for WA. This is climate change.

_______________

I’m flattered again. I posted a comment on the premier photography blog a few days ago, about the typo typo mentioned below.

I was surprised to get an email from the blogger, a most erudite chap who used to be the editor of a couple of photography magazines, saying he couldn’t see what I was on about. What was wrong with the caption: “sold by Australian stationary chain Typo”?

I said, stationary vs stationery and explained. He emailed back and said:

Hi Peter,

Mazda MX6

1996 Probe

Ha ha ha ha ha. The Guardian is running an article about an Australian company that sells globes of the Earth, with country names, etc. This company has made an error, naming Palestine but leaving out Israel.

But the Guardian’s caption under the photo is: “sold by Australian stationary chain Typo”

How’s that for a tautology? A typo in a sentence about a typo by a company named Typo. Must be a record.

Unfortunately, they’re not allowing comments on that story, so I have to do it here.

_________________

Where is it? It’s an airport, but it’s not Perth Airport. Runways at 90º ? Give up? Jandakot, in Perth, Western Australia. Supposed to be Australia’s busiest airport.

________________

And this one? Kwinana, Rockingham, Point Peron and Garden Island.

I’m going overboard with the pictures because I’ve figured out how to embed the sRGB colour profile in the pictures, resize, and export in one easy operation. True colour on screen at last.

______________

OK, I’ve been agonising all night (yeah, another sleep free night) over whether to book the rest of my 30 day stay in Bali in the same S’Cape Condotel, and I just went ahead and did it. Same deal, no payment up front and cancel up to a week beforehand, so no harm done. I have to have a three day gap between my two bookings. That’s OK, I’ll either try the real cheap guest house near the beach at $22 a night, or go to some other hotel along the coast. Maybe I’ll go to the nudist resort again! (Later: ugh, the rate is now $61 a night with no air-con, or $100 a night with air-con and breakfast. Bit too expensive, I think.)

This time the rate for the Condotel was only $51 a night vs $54 yesterday. Exchange rate improvement, I assume.

Now to book a damned Jetstar cramped flight. I suppose it’s only 3 hours.

UPDATE: the cheapest and the best times turned out to be Air Asia, so that’s what I’ve booked. It cost $516 return all up, with 20Kg luggage, very nearly what Garuda cost with 30Kg, two checked bags, meal and drinks included. Poor value for money on Air Asia.

Now to book the hire car to get to the airport, at half the cost of a taxi, as I did on the last trip.

______________

© PJ Croft 2016

Hmmm. Men’s wear, eh? With my boobs, they’d suit me very well. 😉

________________

I’ve just done the beach stairs again, coming up slowly this time in the hope of avoiding the torn muscles of a week ago. There are 80 steps now vs 74 a couple of years ago.

_________________

I think I’ll buy the new laptop too. A Dell XPS 15 with UHD (3840 x 2160 pixels) screen.

So what do I do with the old Sony VAIO? It’s still a nice machine, just 6 or 7 years old. I dunno. Donate it to the Men’s Shed, I suppose.

One problem with it is that I can only ever get about 2½ hours use on battery. It was like that right from new. It’s supposed to give 6 hours, so I don’t know why it doesn’t. The new Dell is rated at 10 hours. I hope so.

Sanur pano Dec 2010

Above is a panorama done using that marvellous program Autostitch. Fast, and free. No seams visible, ever. Also done in sRGB colour space, so the colour comes through.

______________

Bloody hell, I’m cold, in February! Actually — February??? Where’s the summer gone? Only four weeks to autumn. Better head back to Bali, I think.

______________

Crumbs, I’ve just found what looks like the perfect place. It’s a set of 16 apartments called a condotel, on Jalan Tamblingan. Unfortunately they’re away from the beach, but it has a pool, of course. They’re asking $54 a night. I suspect I could bargain that down for a long stay.

The thing is, each room is 80 sq. m. and has a dining table and lounge area, and a small kitchen. One drawback is that wi-fi is only available in a hot spot in the ‘public area’. I have a high sensitivity wi-fi adapter – it might reach from the room.

Maybe I’ll book a week in the cheap, cheap $22 a night beach guest house, then the rest of a 30 days stay at this condotel. That price of $54 a night is what I was saying is no more than a lease on a villa would cost. If I could get it down to $50 a night. Hmmm…

DANG! Problem, too good to be true. Booked out on the dates I want.

One reviewer says half the 16 apartments are occupied by permanent residents. I’m not surprised.

I’ve emailed them asking when I could get a booking from 7 – 30 days long. I notice their web site offers 20% discount off their $75 standard rate for showing your boarding pass. So they do offer discounts.

UPDATE: I found they have a room from 1 March to 14 March, 13 nights, so I’ve booked it. It was the last one and I couldn’t go beyond 14 March. I’ll try this and see how it goes. I can cancel up to a week beforehand and I haven’t paid anything yet, so no risk.

Further update: the condotel have emailed me back and they can offer me 16 March to 31 March, just not 15 March. So I could go away on an overnight trip somewhere, leaving my bags at reception, and come back. I’ve told them I’ll think on it. It might be best to stick with the shorter booking as I might not like it.

At $54 per night x 365 = $19,710 a year. I’m sure you could swing a better deal than that. It’s a better deal than leasing, I think. No contracts, no surprises, no lawyers. And if I wanted a break back here, I could sub-let it, maybe?

OK, now to book a flight. And consider where to stay for the remainder of the 30 days. (See below)

Kuta Beach 2010. Those trees weren’t there in 1980 when I first went. Nor the cranes.

_______________

I started looking at airfares on Air Asia last night. They say $119 one way, but somehow it becomes $179 even before you start adding luggage. Then it becomes $220 when luggage is added, and even more if you want a meal and choice of seat.

So when Garuda is $213 one way ($526 return) for 30Kg baggage, with two checked bags, full service meal, free drinks and in-flight movie, and a tray table that I can get fully down, why would I choose Air Asia?

I’m all excited again now.

DANG AGAIN! Garuda no longer flies direct Perth to Bali. Only via Jakarta, with a loooong overnight wait at Jakarta airport. No way.

It looks as if I’m stuck with Jetstar and Air Asia, and despite their “$280 return” advertised price, it’s going to cost me upwards of $500 return with all the add-ons, I think. Damn, there’s no choice.

___________________

I’ve just looked at the travel insurance policy I took out ($403 worth) for the Xmas trip, to see if I can claim the leg ulcer treatment. The first clause says:

What you are not covered for
1. Any claims if at the time you take out this insurance and/or prior to you booking any single trip the following apply:

a) You are aware of any medical condition or set of circumstances which could lead to a claim.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t say I was unaware of my potential leg ulcer condition. That’s why I apply Dermeze daily. I think I’d be wasting my time making a claim.

That means I think the whole idea of paying so much for travel insurance that I’ll almost never be able to use is a waste of money. I’ve paid out many hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars for insurance over the years and I have never made a claim or been able to make a claim. I think I’ll just not bother next trip.

Hmmm…         © PJ Croft 2010, 2016