2010-05-31

More new eyes.


I've been in an experimenting mood with eyes of late and have learned a fair bit.
These two sets cost $25 delivered from selectspecs.com so it isn't wasting a lot of money.

The set on the right are my new playroom specs, what I did was take .75 of an opter thingie off their power (e.g -2.25 down to -1.50) and have a set that's pretty useful for focusing on both the computer monitor and the TV. Of course at my age it has to be a bit of a compromise with both ends being at the limit of their range.

The left set were bought for driving and are pretty good but in hindsight larger lenses would be better for most use, though I was thinking of having to view over them when shopping, so I can read labels. Also I had to change the astigmatism settings a bit as the last eye test the eyeman did wasn't quite right.

Change a coming.


I'll be downsizing my everyday computer down to this little Acer Revo pretty soon, I've ordered a Samsung 640 Gb drive to use instead of this 320 Gb one, then I can install an operating system.

This should make our play room a fair bit quieter as well as reducing the power bill. Electricity users here are being treated like smokers with prices increased to compensate for government mismanagement.

My current computer will be moved to the bedroom where it shall continue to be used for operations requiring grunt, since it has about 10 times the computing power of the Revo.

2010-05-25

Wow!


Peter's finally decided to play with his new toy. It only took a bit over five weeks to do it, the man is a legend, and a fine example of self control.
There's no way I could have waited a day before playing with a toy like that, I suppose the grass tickling his groin as he walked through it triggered his rush.

2010-05-21

Whoops.


I didn't know there was a world cup in South Africa coming up, I thought the one that just finished in the West Indies was it. Since Australia had to swallow a bitter pill in that one I won't talk about it.

Anyway according to this American news report South Africa bears a striking resemblance to South America.

2010-05-20

Maybe we should waste a bit of water?


We just got our water bill and have used less than the minimum charge amount.
However seeing as they'd fitted a new meter a little while back and it was wound back a tiny bit it's a fair cop. It's hard to see where we can use much more water anyway.

Anyway at least it's a simple job to pay it instantly using internet banking thanks to them having bpay.

A not so shining example.


If I was a generation or two younger this would irk me a lot more. They've made getting a driver's licence tougher for the young than facing up to a 3 month jail (makes more sense than the correct gaol spelling) term, and will be on them quicker than a tonne of bricks if do do something evil like putting blue LED windscreen washers on their car, but the old generation can just slap a bit of tape on their tail lights and drive around with their numberplate worn into invisibility despite a constant bombardment of advertising warning motorists about their number plates for the last decade.

The old should be setting a good example to the young. They moan about the young ones speeding but it's their parents that have demonstrated to them as they grow that it's fine to speed wherever they drive and that a stop sign doesn't really mean stop.

Glad I don't own the place.


If I ran the pharmacy my stress level would have taken a hit from this woman parking her shopping trolley in the doorway for a few minutes while picking over the shoes on display.

Arrggh, letting the cool air out, blocking the doorway, arrggh.

More than a month now.


Peter still hasn't cranked his new fancy ride-on mower into action.
This morning I noticed a rugged looking little bloke who looks surprisingly like the wrestler Kurt Angle hunting what appears to be a rare albino feral pig hiding in his jungle.

Peter told me on Saturday that the grass has stopped growing so he didn't seem to be in any hurry to play with his new toy. Funny how he has a different climate to us, as ours is still growing.

2010-05-16

One for mega.


Mega may know who the mystery figure in this aerial photo is.
The url is shown at the top of the piccie.

2010-05-13

New radiator, then blues.


I treated Tru to a bit more cooling leeway the other day by fitting a new radiator with a bit more cooling capacity meant for the turbo and V8 variants.
This should help keeping her cool when she's working on a hot day, although there wasn't any real problem there. What was of concern was her model's weakness in the transmission heat exchanger in the radiator. They have a habit of failing and mixing coolant into the transmission causing its destruction.

The new radiator with improved exchanger should ease some worries.

The few drops of transmission fluid lost when fitting was enough to trigger alarm bells from it but I was going to do a fluid change anyway (at least 4 litres worth of change), and I was glad I did as the old fluid was quite yucky from it appearing to have done 192k km without any servicing. Now I'll need to do another semi-fluid change very soon, followed by another not long after.

At least Tru appears to have had a fairly easy life, so all should be OK.

Naturally and totally unrelated her battery died as if shot by a bazooka when I decided to do this job. It wouldn't hold charge more than a few minutes and stranded me at Woolies carpark, meaning I couldn't shop around for a new one and had to pay Repco prices for one, ouch!

25 days now and Peter still hasn't started his new toy (the ride on mower), maybe he's frightened there may be some boat people (refugees) hiding in the growth, and he doesn't want to scare them.

2010-05-06

17 days.


Grass like this would break a mere mortal into giving the new toy a run.
Peter is indeed a superman being able to resist the urge.

Twins.


Not quite. It's a Holden, Tru's a Ford. It has $200 wheels and tyres, Tru has $2 jobs.
Tru has a feeble old owner who likes a quiet comfortable ride, so she has pothole absorbing sidewalls and stock mufflers, versus the razor sharp handling ones for our smooth straight highway, and the local trick of removing the resonator and fitting a loudener in place of the muffler so the young people can hear the engine.

But Jimmy's an old married man now and doesn't have to impress his peers nor the girls anymore.

2010-05-05

Pretty again.


Like toenail polish these wheel covers should make Tru feel pretty again.

They didn't cost a fortune and came with three clip settings, like the 3 bears I found the middle one the best. Actually it only comes with two settings but if you put one end of the holding wire in the strong position and the other end in the weak position, you end up with a result just right.

16 days, incredible self control.


Peter next door bought this shiny flash new mower 16 days ago and must be using incredible self control to have been able to hold back the urge to give it a run.
I've used ours a couple of times since then but I suppose he still requires the grass to be over knee level before triggering his time to mow reflex.

He could be in for a fair surprise when he finds it'll take far less than the 5 hours he takes to trundle the Victa around, but maybe he'll find a way to slow it down enough to fit into his timetable.

2010-05-02

Dual


Unlike so many of their drivers, Ford manage to use the correct version.
No contest.