2016-10-31

My temporary filling just lived up to its name.

Finally after much longer than expected this temporary filling fell out, I return to the dentist on Thursday but she had planned to pull another tooth before pulling the one this filling was in, I doubt she'll pull both in the same visit so I suppose more pain will follow shortly.
This photo also exposes an issue that effects all photography and one that the current fashion for large black cameras with massive and usually oversized sensors, all too often further weighed down by a flapping mirror that has only a legacy purpose nowadays, the issue is depth of field and the so-called pinhead sized sensor this budget gem the Olympus SZ-16 naturally has a deeper depth of field than a large sensor camera but you can see the limited focus depth here. The current fashion for very shallow depth of field is going to mean a lot of photos being shot around the world suffering from this flaw until the users realise that most times they actually want a deeper depth of field for what they're shooting.
Don't give up on small sensor cameras yet, they actually still have a place as well as some advantages despite the sensors now appearing to pretty well be at the limit of development.
Pocketability, Price and Zoom being pretty good factors for a purchase, plus in my case being able to buy a non-black/bland camera means plenty too but I'm a bit weird like that.

2016-10-30

Maraka.

With a sense of the parade was ordinary we wandered down to the stage to see if anything interesting was going to happen, and it did, this marching band was from Townsville and if not brilliant at least show plenty of promise if they can stay together and develop, the leader appeared to have much talent.
After the band played a few tunes ending with a medley showstopper local legend Mario Torrisi spoke about a statue he wants to erect and was awaiting permission.
Then we were entertained by the local youth, here a dancer who chose a tune I'd had the joy of never hearing before.
Then more dancers, this time to and Indian type tune that was also unknown to me but was an improvement on the prior tune.
Three dancers and three exotic looking women videoing their performance, there's a possibility they might be related. Unusually in this age of the cellphone only one of those videos should be totally useless due to holding the camera the wrong way (vertically)
Yep sure enough another dancer appeared on stage, to another typically tuneless number that as is normal for our time was too long.
Sure enough more dancers followed, of course the Maraka stage is quite useless as the speakers obscure the lower half of the performers.
Oh bliss oh joy a young fellow had the talent and ticker to play a tune on a violin, he did a good job too and even had the sense to limit the length of the tune he was playing.
Then came a singer so my mood was pretty good again, her song choice wasn't great and she also suffered from equipment breakdown a good way into things but after they put it right she must have relaxed enough to find her voice pretty well and did a fine job of the ordinary and way too long number.
Then came more dancers but I had already stayed way longer than planned so we shuffled off.
Next year I'll plan our visit more about the stage and far less about the parade.

Maraka festival.

Maraka is a festival that dates back to the days before Australians discovered they had colour vision and sugar cane was cut by hand, back in the day it was to celebrate the end of the cutting season, these days there's still plenty of cane left to chop at this time of year but if it was to stay true to its origin then years end would be even busier. Olivia and I went to see the parade yesterday and I'm afraid I found it very ordinary and I think the parade needs an injection of life.
To me this was the highlight but in rather a sad and expensive way, I don't know why they let a Rolls Royce into the parade as it isn't Italian but the slow pace was proving to be a task beyond it and as it passed us it began emitting a fair cloud of fumes that had a real overheating odour to them, I sense a fair sized repair bill coming up for the owner.

2016-10-28

Candice.

Olivia got herself a new baby yesterday and when pressed for a name I suggested Candice after the winner of the Great British Bake off final which happened about an hour before we adopted "Candy".
She's very real and cute but hope our reality doesn't get warped for this childless couple.

2016-10-22

Very fancy.

We had a really big win yesterday when Olivia bought a bookcase from our local trading group on Facebook, it was a free giveaway and was packed neatly in its box ready to be reassembled, even better was them going to the trouble of delivering it and the strong fit chap even carrying the 32 kg box up the stairs and inside, a huge win.
Because it had been assembled before it was a fairly simple job to finish off, now we'll just have to tidy up this Karaoke gear.

2016-10-21

A flower for Grace.

I took out a flower from our yard today, the same as the one I gave her very close to four years ago when we buried her.

This reminded me of something.

I had a mandarin last night and the resulting peel reminded me of something.

2016-10-19

A Philippines Kangaroo.

In my travels thanks to the wonders of Google I found a Kangaroo on the side of the highway just south of Daraga, I hope it's better behaved than our local ones, who must have learned how to react to traffic from the deer in the USA.

2016-10-17

Another tooth gone.

The curved root made this one a difficult job for the excellent dentist who suffered having me today.
I had gone to had the tooth she put a temporary filling into a few months ago pulled but my tears when describing how much pain this burglar on the other side of my mouth was giving persuaded her to pull it instead.
Of course life isn't simple for those of us who use the free public system, now Olivia has to phone the system in order to do as the dentist requested and get two more teeth pulled, at least soon there won't be any left to hurt me.

Best after.

My parents visited the other day and I saw this on the side of a bottle of beer my Dad brought with him, I've never seen a best after date on anything before.

2016-10-13

Simple job.

I thought it time to replace the storage battery in our solar powered street number gadget, it'd been through hundreds of charge cycles and wasn't staying lit too long at night so hopefully this will add a bit of vitality.

2016-10-11

Pushbike brakes.

Something I never heard of in my youth, and I suppose they don't want ordinary people to know is that the brake blocks should be set so the trailing end contacts first when braking, that means the end that's closest to the front of the bike unless you're far more skilled than me and ride it backwards a lot. This should avoid the grabby and generally bad feeling you can have.
I must get out and pedal a bit more, hopefully this will spur me on a bit.

2016-10-06

Cool.

Olivia snapped this of the temperature coming out of Daisy's vent when we we're driving to Townsville today. I don't think I need bother with any more get colder tweaks.

2016-10-04

It's fashion but not as I know it.

Olivia bought these pants for me a few weeks ago, I'd be far too scared to be seen in public wearing them but I'm also lucky enough to have a lovely wife who has rapidly taught herself sewing skills and can adjust the legs to a suitable length.
Resulting in shorts I'm quite happy to wear. My legs are so short that I've always had to adjust the length of long pants, now sadly due to what I see as an insane fashion I also have to adjust my shorts, else the legs drag on the ground.