It all started with a pen. It rolled off the back of the desk and I didn’t hear it hit the floor. When I went exploring I encountered a tangled mess and enough dust to build a nest in.
I had read earlier of methods of decluttering cables – most of which seemed to involve specialised racks from IKEA. It was time to get creative. Howards Storage supplied a couple of wire baskets and Woolworths supplied the six-way socket and it fitted the baskets perfectly. I also had to get the DSL modem off the ground too. I decided that although rear installation would hide the cables effectively, there were times when you need to see which lights are flashing, so I decided on a front mount beneath the desk, but still off the floor.
And here is the result – four screws (supplied with the racks) mounted the whole lot in a neat fashion and the wires were each coiled out of the way. I used some velcro cable ties from Clints Discount Warehouse to keep the coils together. The whole lot took about 15 minutes and the result is an easy access for the vacuum cleaner and a neat arrangement of cables tucked well out of the way. Now to tackle the entertainment system!
Thanks to Sharon for the link to the declutterer 🙂
The Fuji Finepix camera S5700 has a ten ttimes optical zoom and is a 7 megapixel camera. I particularly like the large lens size as it copes well with relatively low light conditions, such as indoor evening shots. But my standard test for a camera is how well it takes a moon shot at its greatest zoom. And here is the result
It was taken using the the full zoom and full digital zoom on the Manual setting (shutterspeed 500, aperture F3.5 ISO100) – okay I’m impressed – and it cost no more than the canon powershot cameras I had used before. I had looked at these cameras before, but was put off by the XD card media – well now they have updated and take both XD and SD cards – making them compatible (finally) with most card readers.
This camera is excellent value for money and a great entry camera if the prices of digital SLR cameras have been putting you off.
Posted by Jerry on November 19th, 2007 — Posted in Journal, Music
There was still quite a bit of daylight when we arrived at Majors Creek near Braidwood in New South Wales and we wre fortunate in being offered a camping spot in a great location on the edge of the great sports oval on which the bulk of the Music at the Creek festival was to run.
The day was still warm and once we had set up camp, it was time to check out the layout. We were near one venue which had a number of excellent acts from bluesy duos to big sound bands.
As always the highlight for me were the informal music sessions where musicians come together to play and exchange tunes. I came away with a good list of tunes to learn, and pointed others to some great tunes I had picked up during the year.
There were excellent sessions on Friday night and on Saturday night which went until well into the morning. I had another great playoff with Tony Pyrzakowski from Mothers of Intention – a great fiddler and a great mate.
Rosie McDonald and Anne Ridgeway did a lovely set at one of the concert venues, as did Nick and Liesl – an up and coming young Sydney duo.
Will O’ the Wisp was there with stilt walkers and hoop shows and workshops adding to the festival atmosphere. The Morris dancers braved the heat on Saturday and the late afternoon thunderstorm provided a welcome cool change with teh sun returning in the morning to dry everything off before packing up.
Majors is a great festival – big enough to attract great talent and small enough to remain a friendly festival – I’ll be back next year 🙂
Posted by Jerry on November 13th, 2007 — Posted in Journal, Travel
The scenery in the surrounding hills around Christchurch is breathtaking – we took the road up to Mt Cavendish lookout (where the Gondola cable-car goes to), and found a delightful road the wound around various coastal villages and then up to a fabulous view of Lyttelton on one side and Christchurch on the other.
The lookout may well have been designed by hobbits!
Lyttelton is situated in a bay created by the collapsed crater wall of an extinct volcano. The water is beautifully clear and deep azure blue in colour.
It is a picturesque town – site of the landing harbour of the First Four Ships of the Canterbury Association fleet.
If you have the time, it’s worth tooling around those hills in a hire car or motorcycle – great roads (if quite narrow in places with steep unguarded drops over the side. But the surface is good bitumen and the curves make for a lovely gentle motorbike slalom. Our rather large hire car seemed a bit squeezy at times when large SUVs came hurtling around from the opposite direction!
This is the maritime time ball – a little bit of Greenwich far from the UK!
And there is an excellent museum nearby – well worth a visit 🙂
Cheers
Jerry
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