A woman from a Bali web site I’ve been visiting, who lives in the USA, put up a post this afternoon saying that she’d just heard a Trump press conference (that should have been my first danger signal) and she said when he was off-mike she heard him say “fuck”. She didn’t make fun of him (that should have been the second danger sign), but a few people commented.
I put in a comment saying “The man’s a pig. No, pigs are better than him. A US pandemic expert said this morning that Trump is a danger to the whole world.”
Well, in less than five minutes I got a Facebook message, “Unfriend me please.” She must have been a Trump fan! Ha! Ha ha ha ha.
I’m glad I provoked her. I haven’t done as she requested. Too bad.
Someone’s vomited on my car. This is the Verada, parked outside in the laneway. It may not be vomit but I don’t know what else it would be.
This is the second time. Someone pissed, urinated on my Magna when it had to be parked out there last year.
What a mob of druggies and thieves we have around here. Luckily, apart from the loss of my mitre saw a few months ago, I’ve had no other trouble.
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I just heard about the $750 for pensioners. That’s nice, assuming I get it. I should. I was mightily crapped off in 2009 when all taxpayers got the $900 to stave off the GFC crisis. I didn’t get it!
I was a self funded retiree at the time, not on any pension, no government funding. But because I didn’t pay any tax (not enough income) I wasn’t a taxpayer, therefore I wasn’t eligible!
What!!! What kind of logic was that? Holy smoke, I was paying my own way, not being a burden, but I missed out.
I wrote a letter of protest to the PM’s office and after about a month I did actually get a full reply. It used some kind of twisted logic to explain it, but it didn’t satisfy me. What could I do? Nothing, except watch two friends, both quite high income earners still working, spend their gifted money on a big gas barbecue. Grrr.
I’m actually spending a bit at the moment because I’m also selling things. New CPAP machine, lots of small things from Wish (doing my bit to help keep China afloat 🙂 ), a new roof lining for the Verada next week $230.
I’ve just bought a second hand Sony STR-DA3000ES Surround Sound Receiver off eBay, $320:
That should keep me happy for while! 🙂Aaah, a nice big transformer. Not a switch-mode power supply. Good!
Seven channels of 150W per channel. I only want two of the channels, but it’s nice to know that the power is available. I had to arrange a courier to collect it from Cheltenham, Melbourne, and bring it here. It weighs 17Kg, $64 to transport.
I also plan to buy a second hand Bowers & Wilkins ASW-600 sub woofer this weekend:
It has a 150W amplifier built in. My KEF speakers have always lacked bass. This should fix it. Surprisingly, the seller is just across Marmion Ave, in Jindalee.
The purpose of all this is that I rarely listen to good music in the lounge area these days, nor do I watch DVDs. It’s because the amp and DVD player are too far away from my seated position and there are two things in the way to get around to reach it. I plan to reorganise things so that the electronics things are just to the left of the couch, so that I can easily reach them. The Pioneer amp I use at the moment will go. It’s too complex to use and I can’t read the tiny grey lettering on the black metal.
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We were planning to hold our annual high school reunion (still going strong after 56 years!) on 4 April, but by general consensus among the 24 attendees so far, everyone agrees we should postpone. It’s too dangerous for us, all now aged 73, or soon will be, and some with frailties. I’m not frail, but I have three strong risk factors so I’m in agreement.
So we’ll postpone, not cancel. Therefore the 2020 reunion will be held in 2021, and the 2021 reunion in 2022, ad infinitum. Hah.
The top image shows a brand new Honda 2,200W petrol generator for US$93 = A$141 approx. Pretty good, eh?
The second image shows the Australian retail price of what appears to be the same unit. The type number is slightly different, EU22i compared with EU2200i, but they look the same.
Look closely, though and the cheap unit is only 120Vac out, instead of 240Vac out. Yet a price difference of $140 vs $1799?
I was a bit tempted, but “if it looks too good to be true, it probably is”, and this looks too good to be true. It stinks of scammery. So, I said so in their Contact Us form, but in three days I’ve had no response. There’s no indication of the location of the seller, and I suspect you may not hear from them if you pledged your plastic. On the other hand, they do use Paypal, so I think that would give protection, but even so… Pity. I’d buy one and use a step-up transformer, or buy two and twin them to get 240V.
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This Covid-19 virus is certainly dominating the news at the moment. Panic buying and fighting over toilet paper? Good grief!
I must admit I’ve bought four packs of either 8 or 9 rolls, but there was no shortage where I shop. Aldi sells the eight-packs for $3.65 so I bought two. The nine-packs came from my local IGA. They weren’t priced but I wasn’t fussed and picked up two. Only when I got through the checkout did I find they were $8.65 each. Urrrrggh. Oh well, too bad.
I’ve bought a double fill of my medications, no problem. And a few shopping bags of canned goods, especially beans and fish, tuna, salmon etc. And Indian vegetarian foods. Bread mixes. Not huge quantities, just enough that I would be free of food worries for up to 28 days. And a big bottle of laundry detergent and simple cleaning stuff.
I think that will do me.
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I saw the eye specialist today for the first time in two years. The news? All good. There’s been almost no change since I saw him last. No retinal damage and the intra-ocular pressures were 16 and 17, meaning no glaucoma. No need to make another appointment, only if I want to in a couple of years. That’s good news.
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I’ve just finished reading the latest science fiction book by Stephen Baxter PhD called World Engines. All 564 pages of it. I’ve read almost all of his books and he writes HUGE themes. He’s an astrophysicist so what he writes is scientifically plausible. This book deals with moving a planet in its orbit around the sun so as to forestall a future collision in 1,000 years or so.
But I confess to some disappointment, again. His books read like lectures. There’s a strong storyline, of course, but there’s little tension. Nothing ever goes wrong. It’s like music without crescendos. There are no problems to overcome, no crises. Everything works on their spacecraft. The planet move works. Two men die in a nuclear explosion, but he spends little time on their end. They got there in a British spacecraft which uses CRT displays and they do their calculations on slide rules. Ridiculous.
I’ll make an exception for his book Titan which I will say is one of the best sci fi books I’ve read. It’s very long and you wonder whether the ending was necessary, but there.
I had the last of three dental appointments on Friday, this one to fix a front tooth that broke last year. I was pretty nervous after the previous week’s painful session, but it was a breeze in comparison this time. I think even the dentist was shocked at my pain reaction the previous week. He said he’d asked colleagues and no-one had heard of my reaction. Well, I wasn’t imagining it, although as I’ve said, the memory of it has faded. Strange.
Anyway, this time I hardly felt anything and it was all over quite quickly. that was the last procedure until the next regular check, so I’ll get back into the habit again. It was really encouraging to find there was no decay or major work needed.
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I’ve been scouring the web in search of information about camping and caravan parks up North, in case I decide to get away this winter. It’s so hard to know what to do. Will it get bad here in Perth? In what way? Would it reach the stage of feeling confined to our houses? If I did decide to hit the road, what if I started to feel sick at Kalbarri, for example? I don’t think there’s much in the way of hospital care there. What about Coral Bay, or Exmouth? What if I were camped on the other side of NW Cape? So would I drive myself while feeling very sick?
It’s obviously impossible to know these things. I guess all we can do is try to stay positive and busy and “Always look on the bright side” as Monty Python would.
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Jeez, Broome’s bloody expensive! If I drive north, I might make it my turn-around point and stay for a couple of nights, but $125 per night is the minimum for any kind of cabin or hotel room accommodation and it heads skywards from there. I’d like to see the place, but who can afford to stay there. I could stay in a five star for a month in Bali, including airfares, for the price of a week in Broome in a three star, and not including airfare or fuel.
However, given the drought of forward tourist bookings, those prices may change. I was reading that Cairns is almost at a standstill now. Lots of bargains there, I’d say. It would be nice to spend the winter in Cairns.
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I’m steadily uploading my images to Picfair, the photo sales website https://bullsnapper.picfair.com and I’ve got about 120 up so far. Each upload is limited to 20, and every image has to have a title, a description and as many keywords as you can come up with (usually about 20-25). It all takes time. It took about three hours to do the latest batch of twenty.
No sales so far, I’m afraid. The Picfair people suggest a price for us to choose, so I’ve put $25 approx for all mine. That’s for whaat they call editorial use, e.g. for a magazine picture or for a web site. But for a major campaign, say a prestigious magazine, or as the lead for an ad campaign or whatever, then it’s usually about 10x that. They set the price, not me.
No sales, as I said, but at least I’m out there. You never know.
Maybe it’s my just deserts for being a curmudgeon, but my visit to the dentist on Friday morning was among the worst, most painful I’ve ever had.
I had to have the anaesthetic needle at the back of the jaw on the left, and for some reason, maybe he went into the muscle or something, but the pain of the needle was agony!! It wasn’t that sharp pain as if he’d hit the nerve or something, it was broad, agonising pain as if my jaw was being forced open very very hard, or similar. It wasn’t that sharp, toothache pain, it was quite different. I was groaning and shivering, but I didn’t ask him to stop as I knew it would only be a few seconds more. Hah. It went on and on. I could hardly bear it.
When he eventually pulled out after, at a guess 60secs, I was trembling and shaking, seemingly from shock. It took me more than 5 mins to calm down. The dentist said he’d never seen a reaction like that and neither have I ever experienced it. I don’t want another one either.
It’s all over now and I treated myself to a nice brunch at the Dome to compensate. Funny, after a few hours, the memory of the pain seems to have faded. I’m glad it has. I really can’t recall it much at all. Good thing.
I still have one more appointment next Friday. I’m not too scared, but all my life, dentist = pain, and this hasn’t helped.
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One good thing is that although I’ve been very lax about going to the dentist for the past eight years out of fear and anxiety, apart from one very painful experience in 2014, his examination showed no decay, apart from one little surface bit on one tooth. That’s remarkable! I asked about staining and such and he said no, there’s a bit but nothing a good clean won’t fix. Two fillings needed replacing, which were done on Friday, and one front tooth needs cosmetic repair next Friday, but that’s all.
This is a testament to the efficacy of the electric toothbrush, I feel. When I was younger I used to scoff at Americans for using them, but now I realise how good they are. I’m not fully compliant, I don’t clean after every meal, but I am religious about cleaning every night before bed and it’s obviously paying off. Very rarely do I miss the bedtime clean.
One thing he confirmed is that I have a small mouth and jaw. There’s no room for 32 teeth and never has been, and he finds it hard to work in there due to inadequate room. That’s the way I’m built, I’m afraid.
But in hat size, which I’ve been paying attention to recently, I’ve got a big head. I knew that. Even in men’s hats I’m the biggest size, but in women’s, well, they perch on top. I’ll have to try some small cuts to loosen them a bit. In the hats, that is!
Damn internet and data collection – I was talking to my GP about baldness a few weeks ago and he recommended rollers with many tiny needle points, which slightly injure the skin. As it heals, the blood vessels are stimulated and hair follicles are helped. It can also benefit facial skin as well.
So I did a web search for these rollers, which I’d never heard of before, and blow me down, within a few days ads for these rollers started appearing on the Chinese Wish.com website I’ve mentioned. Now it’s progressed to hair restorer lotions and all sorts. Seemingly all because I did that web search.
I read about saffron in tablet form being good for insomnia and mood, so I’m about to do a web search for that. What’s the bet it starts appearing on Wish soon after. If it’s available at Chinese prices, that will be OK. Good for my mood in itself.
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February 29th, leap year and the birthdate of one of the guys I used to work with. I phoned him this morning and he said yes, he’s 17 today, or 68 in dog years.
He’s had a very nasty brush with cancer. Lumps in his neck about a year ago and warning that it was stage 4 lymphoma. But he’s had a lot of chemotherapy and it’s worked well, and there’s only one small lump left which has resisted. He starts radiation for that next week. He said the chemo has been easy, though, with almost no nausea or side effects. Lucky.
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One 1995 Mazda MX-6 for sale, in immaculate condition, a credit to the previous owners. I’ve had my fun and I still enjoy it, but getting out is proving too hard. It’s a car for a fit young man. I’ll put it up on Facebook asap.
Funny, last week it was the Honda that was to go, but I’m getting a little bit excited about the idea of that trip north now and the Honda is integral to that. It’s a bit hard on fuel consumption but I can get it down to 9-10l/100km with a careful right foot. (~12-13l/100Km around town, same as the Magna and Verada.)
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I took delivery of a new Resmed S10 Autoset CPAP machine yesterday, replacing my S8 that I’ve had for 12 years. It was still in nightly use, but the display wasn’t working and neither were the front panel buttons.
These are very expensive machines, normally around $2,600, but for February they were on special at $1599, with an HBF rebate of $720, so it was time to do it.
It’s a pity that it feels absolutely no different to the old machine. All that money for no improvement. And the faint whine of the motor rises and falls as I breath, which the old machine didn’t do. Grrrr. I’ll get used to it.
Anyway, the other thing is that the old machine ran on both mains and 12V DC, so you could run it off a car battery. But this new machine needs 24V DC! What a nuisance. It’s possible to get this from inverters, but it’s more expensive. If I travel up north, I doubt I’d need battery power but it will be good to know I can do it.
It uses 24V DC @ 3.75A. That’s 90W, easily within the capability of a solar panel. In fact it’s the same as a large laptop power supply, which it effectively is. That amount of current is presumably including the heated humidifier. If I ever got caught out, I could remove that and use much less current. Hmmm.
So for a good camping trip, 130W solar panel set = ~$250. Inverter, about the same $250. Camping fridge probably about the same too, $250. I already have a great 12.6V DC battery vehicle starter with great air pumping ability and USB and LED torch. I also have two Li-Ion battery banks of 20Ah capacity.
All I need to add is a good tent, and a good bed, one that’s raised high enough so that I can get up off it easily. I don’t need anything else. No surfboards or fishing rods. Well, maybe…..
Wow, another thunderstorm today (after the ripper yesterday). About midday I was in the kitchen and saw a flash, then less than a second later, Kaboooom! the crack of the lightning was like a cannon shot. This is is the closest I’ve ever seen and heard a lightning strike. The power stayed on, nothing else happened and there was no more that I saw, but that was a beauty.
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I had a doctor appt today and was sitting in my car, dressed as a woman as I do nearly every day when I go out. Two young women came to my window and said “Got any change? We need to catch the bus”, or something similar. I said no, I don’t use change any more, sorry.
Then one of the girls said, “Are you a man or a lady?” I gave my sweetest smile and said, “Guess”. One of them said “Lady”, but the other one said “Nah, you’re a man.” I just laughed.
Then I went into the surgery and just after taking my seat, one of these girls came in and asked for a glass of water. Uh oh, I thought. The receptionist got up and went down the passage to get the water. I watched carefully in case the girl reached over the counter, but although she swung around a bit and gave me a good stare, she didn’t try anything.
Then the other one came in and asked the same thing. The receptionist told her there’s a public toilet across the way, to use that. She objected that it’s dirty, and the receptionist again got her a cup of water and she left. I had a chat about it and she was aware of them. There’s no doubt they were up to no good. I think she should have refused their request for water.
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Continuing the credit card saga: last night and today, I tried to use my old bank’s Visa card as a test, and again it was declined. Dammit! What’s going on? I phoned them and was told a block had been placed on it because of two bad PIN entries yesterday. I can’t understand how that happened, but anyway, in return for changing my PIN they unblocked it and I was able to use it to buy the CPAP machine. I didn’t want to have to drive over to Joondalup again, in the rain so it’s lucky it’s free delivery. It should arrive Friday, I hope, but I have the dentist at 10am. I hope they contact me because I hate these chases.
For the new bank’s Visa card, I phoned them as well and found it too was blocked. Probably a scam, they said. Yeah, well, last Friday I got a message on my phone, supposedly from Australia Post, you need to pay $2 extra postage to release a parcel. Since I’ve been getting many parcels recently, I didn’t think too much about it and entered my credit card numbers to pay the $2. Nothing happened.
As soon as I said this, the bank lady said “Scam”. Yes, it’s a scam and fool that I am, I handed over my numbers. I got a message from P&N Bank soon afterwards from their Fraud Watch line asking me to phone them. I tried, but was told they were too busy, please try again later. Which I neglected to do.
Fast forward to today and that was what had caused the block on my card. Upshot, the card had to be cancelled and a new one issued, that’ll be $10 charge. So that scammer cost me $10. Oh well. At least my old bank’s card is working again, but while talking to them I noticed that the annual interest rate is 20.24% !! This the Commonwealth Bank folks. I’m working my way away from them. I’ve been with them 33 years, they reminded me today, but that didn’t stop them slashing the interest paid on my Saver account to almost zero recently, and they didn’t tell me, so they are losing my business. Nasty, unethical, dishonest bank.
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We’re being told, quietly, to start preparing for a pandemic, so I made my start today. I’ve started buying non-perishable foods and asked the pharmacy for two months’ worth of medications. No problem, they’ll do it.
I could also grow my own vegetables. I have the garden space and now that I’ve got the reticulation sorted, things are looking quite good.
Many years ago I saved a newspaper article about this very thing. I remember showing it to a couple of mates and got a dismissive response, they just laughed it off. Well………….
Zensonic massive 900w with 2 teach 120w speakers. Got it from the shead and tested but some who some light got off and I cannot put it in the proper line to get sound. You may be lucky and get sound This only for someone that know who to fix or need for parts. The speakers they very loud and they working with my other amp.
Get that? A nine hundred watt amplifier! Price? $15. Yes, step right up ladeez and gennelmen, the price includes two 120W speakers as well! Do you know who to fix?
This is Facebook Marketplace and is another example of these illiterate yokels flogging rubbish.
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What a ridiculous day. I decided it’s time to buy a new CPAP machine to replace my 12 year old S8. A company called Perth CPAP in Joondalup are pushing good deals, $1599 for virtually any machine, any brand, and it includes a mask and tube too.
So I phoned to check stock and tootled off at about 1pm, found a parking spot right outside the door, used PayWave for the first time on a parking meter, and ventured inside. Just as well, because it was bloody hot today, 34deg. and I was feeling it.
After a long, largely unnecessary instruction from the guy, it was all boxed up and I went to pay. Visa card attempt 1, declined. I’d just cleared the balance owing this morning, so I was a bit annoyed. Attempt 2, declined. OK, try another bank’s Visa card. Also declined. What??!! Tried my EFTPOS card, also declined. What??? This was embarrassing.
OK, what if I go and get a bank cheque? No, doesn’t want that, he’d have to go to the bank. OK, what about cash? No, same thing, have to go to the bank. So what do I do? The guy behind the counter had no answer.
I decided I’d have to go to the P&NBank branch at Joondalup. They checked everything and couldn’t see any problem. After a long talk I went to an ANZ ATM and tested my Visa card. No problem, it accepted my PIN for a balance enquiry.
So after a bite to eat, I drove back to the CPAP shop, confident that I knew the PIN and that my Visa card was working. CLANG! Declined again. I fiddled around with another card but still no luck. I asked if he could invoice me and I’d pay on-line. No, can’t do that.
So I left and walked across the street to an ANZ branch and tried their ATM and again, it accepted my card and PIN and told me my balance. What??!!
So I went back to the P&NBank in the Joondalup shops and told them about it. They didn’t know the answer, but said do you want cash, then? OK, I said, so I took a wad of notes and headed out the door. Then I remembered, not only does Perth CPAP not accept bank cheques, they also close at 4pm, which time it almost was. Damn, damn, damn. What a stupid business.
I decided to buy some groceries and while doing it, heard loud rumblings. Hmmm, noisy stockroom they have, I thought, but it went on and on and soon the rain was actually coming through the roof into Woolies. I waited a while and had to walk to the car in the steady rain, but too bad. That was a big, violent thunderstorm that moved fast down the coast and ripped up trees. The mud and debris on the road home showed how much water had flowed in my area.
OK, I got home and thought I’d try buying on-line. This time I chose PayPal as the method. I use PayPal all the time and never have any trouble. But this time, again, my P&N Visa card was declined! What???!!!
I tried again using my actual Visa card numbers. Declined again.
That’s where it rests. For some reason, my Visa card won’t work. It did a few days ago. I don’t feel like driving over to Joondalup again to pay cash for the machine, given how lazy he was. I’ll have to get the card fixed, then order on-line again. No rush. Bloody ‘ell!
Time for a language blast. I’ve just seen a Facebook comment: “Nine did not he working there either” Huh? (Referring to Channel 9.)
It’s not some foreigner’s comment, it’s a local name. It was in reply to someone saying so-and-so was trained at Channel 9 once. People seem to write on Facebook without looking at what they write and certainly not re-reading so as to correct their errors. It’s complete carelessness. If they care so little about what they write, why should I care about what they’ve written either?
It’s also time to raise the use of “so” to start sentences again. It’s become chronic. Even people in high scientific and managerial positions seem unable to speak without prefacing their sentences with “So…” It’s not just in this country, it’s in interviews I hear from the BBC and other UK stations too.
Speaking of chronic, I renew my offer of $10 to any journalist who can show me an article he or she has written in the past five years that does not include the word iconic. You must be able to prove it was written before this prize offer, of course.
Iconic has become the worst cliche word in the history of the English language, I say, and if you can’t write without using it, maybe you should consider another occupation.
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I picked up a nice lens off Facebook Marketplace on Thursday. I’ve had a Pentax K-5 for ten years now, with a Sigma 10-20mm, a Pentax 18-45mm, a Pentax 55-200mm and a Sigma 120-400mm to go with it. Not a bad lineup, eh?
But they are quite large lenses, not ideal for just carrying one lens and when I saw a Sigma 18-125mm for $100, I liked it.
That’s 27-190mm in full frame terms, a good walking-around and travel lens, so I bought it. I really shouldn’t invest any more in this Pentax system as I rarely use it, but it produces very nice pictures and the price was OK, so I took it.
The seller turned out to be an Indonesian guy named Herry from Jakarta, so we had a good chat. He works at Perth Modern School which is where I met him. I have an invitation to visit him as he is going back to Jakarta to live soon. That would be nice. If I ever get there. Unfortunately, this Covid-19 virus puts me off going anywhere at the moment. My friend Yudi in Sanur is making terrific offers to stay in his hotel, which he has really turned into a lovely place, but I can’t risk going there. One day when this is all over.
I read yesterday that the only place in Indonesia that they can even test for the virus is in Jakarta, so if you noticed symptoms in Bali, you would be on your own. I wouldn’t even risk going to a hospital in Bali for fear of catching either Covid-19 or any of the other infectious disease while your immune system was down.
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I drove the MX-6 into the city and home again on Thursday, and it solidified my thoughts that maybe I won’t keep it. The main reason is that I find it so hard to get in and out. Getting in’s not too bad as I can just slide in down the seat, but getting out I have to rest my right arm on the top of the seat back, grab the window with my left hand, swing my right leg out and haul myself out, leaning hard on the door pillar while I do. I can do it but it’s not easy. Being a 2-door coupe, the door is wide and you need to have room, or be careful about hitting the car alongside.
The ride is also quite hard and bumpy (fair enough, it is a sports car) and the brakes need a hard push, so hard sometimes I think they won’t stop me in time. The steering is the best bit, sharp and responsive, and so is the engine. It feels quick, even within the speed limits.
The lack of a rear wiper, the lack of a left foot rest, lack of any kind of electronic fuel computer… you have to notice it’s a 25 year old car. I don’t think I’ll lose any money on it and it has rego until September. It’s a great buy for someone young and fit.
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When I bought the replacement tablet (replacement for the one that’s lost somewhere, still not found), I bought a 4G phone model, and a Telstra data plan to go with it. It’s great that it’s always on-line, ready, not needing wi-fi passwords to use.
But the data plan was $25 per month for 10GB. I thought at the time that it was a bit expensive. Well, today I paid the second month’s bill and found that of my 10GB data allowance, I’d only been using about 100MB per month! That’s 1/1000th of my allowance.
Therefore I’ve reduced to a 5GB/month $15 plan. That’s the minimum. Obviously even that’s more than I need. I might have to shop around in a month or two.
Busy day today. First job was two new tyres for the Honda MDX. I had that blowout/tyre shredding incident on the left rear a couple of weeks ago and today I finally got my act together and had a mobile tyre guy come out and do the job for me.
You have to buy two tyres for him to come to your home, but I needed two so that was good. Both fronts are now new and the left rear is the best of the rest, with the least good as the spare. $127 each for 235/65 R17.
Crumbs, I’m glad I didn’t have to deal with that spare. It’s suspended underneath the back on a wire rope and you have to get down on the ground to deal with the centre boss. Too hard for me these days.
I’m glad that’s done as I can sell with a clear conscience now.
Ahem! My face is RED! I’ve been saying since June last year that the cruise control on this Honda isn’t working. It was, but it stopped working after I recharged a severely flat battery. The battery was disconnected for a while while I did it. There’s a fuse for the cruise control and I thought that might have been it, but it tested OK. I thought I might have the wrong fuse, but it was too hard and I put it aside.
Duh! Duh! On the MX-6, you have to push a switch on the dash to allow the cruise control to work on the steering wheel. Could it be…? Yes, there it is, a switch on the MDX dash, hidden from view by the steering wheel. Push it on and suddenly the cruise control works again. Bloody ‘ell, sometimes I feel very stupid.
I took the opportunity to wash the mag wheels and tyres and it looks very good now. Just three small jobs to get it ready for sale.
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Next was an appointment at an audiology clinic, owned and run by an old school friend and her son. I shouldn’t say “old” school friend, we’re the same age, after all. Friend from high school days.
I’ve been noticing marked loss of HF response in my right ear for a couple of years, and recently a “bone conduction” feeling and rattles when I change my head attitude. Something in the Eustachian tubes. Same as when you can’t clear your ear after a plane flight.
After a thorough test, yes, marked loss of high frequencies and lower sensitivity than the left, and redness of the ear drum. “You need to see an ENT specialist, mate.” OK, so that’s to come.
Then we had a coffee and a long chat in the coffee shop next door. We’ve known each other for 56 years now. Urk.
Funny, when I filled out the information form when I arrived, one of the questions was, “Do you now or have you ever smoked?” Yes/No.
How do you answer that? I had to circle both Yes and No. Yes, I used to smoke, No I don’t smoke now.
When I commented on it saying it was ambiguous, they said they’d never had anyone comment on it before. Huh?
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Holy smoke, I’ve just had a call on my landline from an 02 number, which I ignored because they are always scam callers.
Then my mobile rang, also with an 02 number. This time I thought I’d better answer and sure enough, it was a guy asking if it is me, with an Indian accent, and saying he wanted to talk to me about some computer scheme. I don’t mind admitting, I shouted at him, “FUCK OFF, YOU INDIAN CRIMINAL! GET LOST!” and hung up.
Damn if I didn’t get two more calls on the mobile soon afterwards with the same 02 number. I hung up on both without answering.
Postscript: I had another call on my mobile “handy” while I was in Coles on Wednesday, another 02 number. I thought I’d better answer it. Bugger me if it wasn’t an Indian accent again. I nearly got aggressive but being in Coles I couldn’t raise my voice. This time I managed to catch (with difficulty) who he said he was calling for, and as it wasn’t Microsoft or Telstra, I thought I’d better listen and be a bit more polite.
It turned out to be the radio survey company whose book I filled out last week. He was calling to confirm that it had been collected and he asked questions about the collector and whether he’d been OK. Yes, no problem.
But as I said, this guy had an Indian accent! Holy smoke, we get so many scam callers with Indian accents, how come this survey company chooses a guy with this accent to make their legitimate calls? Isn’t it asking for trouble?
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This is becoming a real problem. I heard a radio program in the early hours last week by a Canadian guy who has actually gone to India researching this and worked with the Indian police investigating these scam calls. It is a tens, hundreds of $millions problem now, all coming from India. The scammers make enough money from gullible people that they can afford to buy private jets now!
The interviewer asked if he could see any end in sight. The guy said, flat out, no. They cannot see any way to stop it, because the scammers change identities and locations too fast. Therefore we have effectively lost control of our land-line phone system in this country, and in USA, Canada, the UK and New Zealand, all the English speaking countries.
Bull's Roar 