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A drive along the scale Solar System from Dubbo to Siding Spring Observatory. The model uses the dome of the observatory as the scale of the Sun, with the planets posted at the appropriate scale points along the highway.
Pain in the neck
6 January 2019 19:11Back from the physio. The assessment took 30 minutes, and involved lifting, turning, and rotating my right arm to work out what the limits are.
Physio: "Tell me when this hurts."
Me: "argh!"
Ph: "Okay, what about-"
Me: "ARGH!"
Ph: "Now, what about this?"
Me: *whimper*
She is 90% sure the problem is bursitis. (5% arthritis, 5% capsulitis, if you're wondering about the other possibilities) She said an ultrasound would confirm it, but she didn't want to order one unless she thought a shot of cortisone was required.
And then she gave me a massage on the muscles around my right shoulder blade. It was very, very painful. I said "Ow" a lot.
Me: That really hurtOW! What are you doing?
Physio: I find the muscles that are tight and press down on that point until the fibres relax.
Me: Argh.
Physio: They are called Trigger Points. Does the pain radiate to other areas?
Me: No, just where you are presSING!
Physio: Wow. This is a lot of trigger points.
Me: IIIIS that a bad thIIIING?
It was not a good thing. I have been given a bunch of exercises to do, to strengthen my shoulder and back muscles. And lots of Ibuprofen.
*Lots* of Ibuprofen.
Physio: "Tell me when this hurts."
Me: "argh!"
Ph: "Okay, what about-"
Me: "ARGH!"
Ph: "Now, what about this?"
Me: *whimper*
She is 90% sure the problem is bursitis. (5% arthritis, 5% capsulitis, if you're wondering about the other possibilities) She said an ultrasound would confirm it, but she didn't want to order one unless she thought a shot of cortisone was required.
And then she gave me a massage on the muscles around my right shoulder blade. It was very, very painful. I said "Ow" a lot.
Me: That really hurtOW! What are you doing?
Physio: I find the muscles that are tight and press down on that point until the fibres relax.
Me: Argh.
Physio: They are called Trigger Points. Does the pain radiate to other areas?
Me: No, just where you are presSING!
Physio: Wow. This is a lot of trigger points.
Me: IIIIS that a bad thIIIING?
It was not a good thing. I have been given a bunch of exercises to do, to strengthen my shoulder and back muscles. And lots of Ibuprofen.
*Lots* of Ibuprofen.
NBN went down 5pm. Saturday, last week. I turned the modem off and on again - that didn't work. So I turned it off for an hour and turned it back on. Nope. Too late to ring Telstra. Still no connection Sunday morning so I rang telstra. Unhelpful tehnician was unhelpful - he got me to turn it off and turn it on again. Still no connection. So he organized an NBN tech to look at the connection. The earliest time: between 1pm and 5pm. In 5 days on Friday. I expected he will test all the house connections first (they worked until Saturday afternoon.) Then he will turn the modem off and on again. Then he will actually work on the problem. I also expected the problem to self repair before he gets here. So, no internet or landline until then. Buggerit.
In the meantime, I discovered the problem is definitely in the FTTN box. Dad's internet and both his neighbours nets were down. The bad news is Dad's neighbours are OAPs and now had *no* phones. Dad is also an OAP but he is more tech savvy and has a mobile, so mum and dad were not isolated.
Whatever the problem that took out many local connections on Saturday was resolved on Monday, and I had a nice, fast, and stable connection, and so did Dad and his neighbours. Until Wednesday afternoon. When it stopped again. I called Dad to see if he had problems (nope, just me) So I called Telstra, again, to resolve the new problem. This time i told the tech about my previous calls and what I had done (ie turned it off and turned it on again) and she said "So what I want you to do... (long pause) You know what? I'll skip the trouble shooting and escalate it up to the next level." I bet she was about to ask me to turn it off and turn it on again, then realized what she was about to say. So later the Next Level tech rang and started to question me about cords and cables etc, and I was getting frustrated.
"Look, It has worked since it was installed," I said quickly, "And then it didn't, and I have not touched anything!" I might have sounded a little... grumpy. He said he would run more tests and someone would call back tomorrow.
Thursday, the modem had a full set of green lights. YAY! then at 3pm the connection died. Red status and internet lights, no landline phone. Again. So I called teltra. again. And the trouble shooting did not help. again. And it was escalated to the next level. again.
Still dead Friday morning. So I rang Telstra at 9am and got a very helpful tech who could not help. He asked me to do a factory reset, since that was the only thing we had not tried before. (Spoiler! It didn't help.) We got chatting while we waited for the modem to reboot and I mentioned it was a bit cold. He said it was a bit cold there, too. I had a sudden thought.
"Where are you? Where is your office?" I asked.
"Um. I'm in the Philippines."
"So, what temperature is it there?"
"25."
"That's a bit cold?"
"Yes."
"It's 10 here."
"What? Oh my God!"
"It might hit minus1 tonight."
"OH MY GOD!"
"It hasn't rained since March."
(long pause.) "Where do you LIVE?!"
So in the end I will be receiving a new modem on Monday, courtesy of a techy who thinks I live in some frozen hellish wateland beyond civilization. Until then, I have a very iffy connection and a mobile phone I can turn into a wifi hot-spot I can connect to via laptop. Yay updating!
In the meantime, I discovered the problem is definitely in the FTTN box. Dad's internet and both his neighbours nets were down. The bad news is Dad's neighbours are OAPs and now had *no* phones. Dad is also an OAP but he is more tech savvy and has a mobile, so mum and dad were not isolated.
Whatever the problem that took out many local connections on Saturday was resolved on Monday, and I had a nice, fast, and stable connection, and so did Dad and his neighbours. Until Wednesday afternoon. When it stopped again. I called Dad to see if he had problems (nope, just me) So I called Telstra, again, to resolve the new problem. This time i told the tech about my previous calls and what I had done (ie turned it off and turned it on again) and she said "So what I want you to do... (long pause) You know what? I'll skip the trouble shooting and escalate it up to the next level." I bet she was about to ask me to turn it off and turn it on again, then realized what she was about to say. So later the Next Level tech rang and started to question me about cords and cables etc, and I was getting frustrated.
"Look, It has worked since it was installed," I said quickly, "And then it didn't, and I have not touched anything!" I might have sounded a little... grumpy. He said he would run more tests and someone would call back tomorrow.
Thursday, the modem had a full set of green lights. YAY! then at 3pm the connection died. Red status and internet lights, no landline phone. Again. So I called teltra. again. And the trouble shooting did not help. again. And it was escalated to the next level. again.
Still dead Friday morning. So I rang Telstra at 9am and got a very helpful tech who could not help. He asked me to do a factory reset, since that was the only thing we had not tried before. (Spoiler! It didn't help.) We got chatting while we waited for the modem to reboot and I mentioned it was a bit cold. He said it was a bit cold there, too. I had a sudden thought.
"Where are you? Where is your office?" I asked.
"Um. I'm in the Philippines."
"So, what temperature is it there?"
"25."
"That's a bit cold?"
"Yes."
"It's 10 here."
"What? Oh my God!"
"It might hit minus1 tonight."
"OH MY GOD!"
"It hasn't rained since March."
(long pause.) "Where do you LIVE?!"
So in the end I will be receiving a new modem on Monday, courtesy of a techy who thinks I live in some frozen hellish wateland beyond civilization. Until then, I have a very iffy connection and a mobile phone I can turn into a wifi hot-spot I can connect to via laptop. Yay updating!
(no subject)
29 June 2018 14:57Now finishing my second year of zero work, zero income. I have enough in the bank to do this for another 12 months, but spending on things I *want* is out of the question. Even the beer fridge is almost empty. And yes, I have been very quiet here. I have had nothing to post about. There are only so many times* I can write "Slept late. Watched YouTube while eating a breakfast. Bought a curry pie for second breakfast. Long lunch. Worked on Secret Project Business Plan. Ran out of tea." and make it sound interesting.
(*read "once")
I have a couple of possible projects happening on a near-by Pacific island (NOT New Zealand). One could be Highly lucrative but the islanders dragging their feet. They want the White Foreigner to do all the work and provide all the finance - and they have been told I have no finance to give. I have to find a venture capitalist, and the Islanders have to set up the company. I will work for a salary but not for a share of the profits. Those belong to the People. One of the Islanders said to me "I am very confident this project will succeed now a white man is working with us!" which made me very sad. The project won't succeed because the White Man is waiting for the Islanders to actually do something, because Island Time.
The other project is on the same island (Still NOT New Zealand) and will be run by a local Businessman with an MBA from Oxford, who really knows his stuff. This won't be as lucrative, but actually might go ahead because he is ready to work on his side of the South Pacific. This project will export a plant material which will, with a little processing, package lumps of produce for eating. Or, with a little more processing, make bags of four for eating. Or, with a lot more processing, create a biodegradable bioplastic to replace single-use plastic plates and cups, and polystyrene packing beans. I would be involved in designing and building the processing plant(s), and maintenance, and writing operations manuals. And setting up the workplace health and safety system.
And so that is what is happening here. I have not abandoned this place for Faceache; I post almost nothing there, and nothing about these jobs.
What happens on Facebook... well...
(*read "once")
I have a couple of possible projects happening on a near-by Pacific island (NOT New Zealand). One could be Highly lucrative but the islanders dragging their feet. They want the White Foreigner to do all the work and provide all the finance - and they have been told I have no finance to give. I have to find a venture capitalist, and the Islanders have to set up the company. I will work for a salary but not for a share of the profits. Those belong to the People. One of the Islanders said to me "I am very confident this project will succeed now a white man is working with us!" which made me very sad. The project won't succeed because the White Man is waiting for the Islanders to actually do something, because Island Time.
The other project is on the same island (Still NOT New Zealand) and will be run by a local Businessman with an MBA from Oxford, who really knows his stuff. This won't be as lucrative, but actually might go ahead because he is ready to work on his side of the South Pacific. This project will export a plant material which will, with a little processing, package lumps of produce for eating. Or, with a little more processing, make bags of four for eating. Or, with a lot more processing, create a biodegradable bioplastic to replace single-use plastic plates and cups, and polystyrene packing beans. I would be involved in designing and building the processing plant(s), and maintenance, and writing operations manuals. And setting up the workplace health and safety system.
And so that is what is happening here. I have not abandoned this place for Faceache; I post almost nothing there, and nothing about these jobs.
What happens on Facebook... well...
Pours a deep, clear amber colour with a medium head. A small amount of carbonation is visible in the class.
First Sip: strong, sweet malts up front, with a little citrus. Initially very little hops, but then it builds to a long-lasting after-taste. Medium mouth-feel with a little foamy carbonation tingle on the tongue.
"First Sip" was immediately followed by First Gulp. This is a very yummy IPA. The lovely malty sweetness is strong but not too overwhelming, and the hops after-taste goes on for DAYS. I'd only bought one bottle; I won't make that mistake again. It's six packs of this from now on. It goes down very easily, and at 5.5% alc/vol it would put the wobbly boots on pretty fast. And I won't care.
Vale American IPA.
McLaren Vale Brewery, SA
5.5%alc/vol
330ml bottle
Same again, sir? Oh yes please!
Pours a clear very pale yellow with a small/medium head that lasts for ages. lots of carbonation visible.
First sip: Whoa. I mean, mild malt and toffee sweetness, with quite a lot of fruit, almost grapey, flavours. Hops is mild but very long lasting and can be tasted from sip to long after the swallow. Medium mouth-feel with a nice carbonation tingle on the tongue.
If it weren't for the hops, I'd think this was a fizzy riesling. It is extremely drinkable and goes down very easily. This can be a problem - at 5.6% this can result in wobbly boots. A very yummy beer!
Knappstein reserve Lager
Enterprise Brewery (Knappstein Wines) South Autralia
5.6% alc/vol
330ml bottle
Same again, sir? Oh yes please!
It's been a while since I've done one of these.
Pours a clear golden colour with some carbonation visible. The head is small and fades away rapidly (This may be a glass problem.)
First sip: Some mild grainy malts almost but not quite obscured by the hops, which fade away rapidly. Mouth-feel is thin, with a foamy tingle on the tongue. There is a faint, lingering hoppy after-taste.
This beer is... okay. It's drinkable, and I wouldn't say "no" if someone bought me one. It would go down well on a hot day, or would do as a six-pack for a BBQ. But... yeah. Maybe. Meh.
Yenda Pale Ale
Australian Beer Co. (Owned by Coca Cola Amatil)
4.5% alc/vol
330ml bottle
Same again, sir? Um... dunno. Yes?
Pours a clear golden colour with some carbonation visible. The head is small and fades away rapidly (This may be a glass problem.)
First sip: Some mild grainy malts almost but not quite obscured by the hops, which fade away rapidly. Mouth-feel is thin, with a foamy tingle on the tongue. There is a faint, lingering hoppy after-taste.
This beer is... okay. It's drinkable, and I wouldn't say "no" if someone bought me one. It would go down well on a hot day, or would do as a six-pack for a BBQ. But... yeah. Maybe. Meh.
Yenda Pale Ale
Australian Beer Co. (Owned by Coca Cola Amatil)
4.5% alc/vol
330ml bottle
Same again, sir? Um... dunno. Yes?
(no subject)
30 May 2017 20:42What would happen if the Rev. Sidney Chambers and Farther Brown were to be appointed to the Anglican and Catholic churches in Midsommer?
When I watch the live feed of the NOAA Okeanos Explorer, I want to point at the black spots and say "You missed a bit."
#mylivejournal #lj18 #happybirthday
I can't help feeling the aim of every change LiveJournal makes is to drive non-Russians off the site.
Dubbo Noir
19 March 2017 00:04Anything can happen at night when you're driving around the mean streets of the little city. Most nights, nothing happens. This was one of those nights.
Pours a slightly cloudy* dark amber colour. The head is large and foamy, made up of extremely fine bubbles which fade away to a thick cap.
First sip: Lots of toffee malts with a faint hint of coffee. Mild hops taste at first, but it builds into a very long-lasting, almost pine resin hoppyness on the back of the tongue. Mouth-feel is medium, slightly creamy, and a little astringent, with a mild carbonation tingle on the tongue.
Oh, this is a yummy beer. It is perfect for hot Summer days. And, as I discover, hot Autumn days. I think this is the perfect BBQ beer, but I may be a little biased about this because I am using it to wash down a left-over sausage and hot mustard sandwich**. Like the Brewbacca last episode, I could easily smash a six pack of this - and then fall over because the wobbly boots get me*** - because oh boy does it go down easily. Even so, it is worth taking time to drink because the beer tastes better was it warms slightly in the glass - the malt becomes more prominent and you become used to the hops. It is very English that way.
Jaxon IPA
Badlands Brewery, Orange NSW
5.6% alc/vol
500ml bottle
*Or very cloudy if you pour in all the beer and yeast. Can't be Wasting Beer.
**Left over sausages from dinner last night. Not left-over sandwiches. Just wanted to make that clear.
***That's 3 litres of 5.6% beer!
Same again, sir? Yes please!
A dapper Brewie.
Pours a very pale, clear* yellow. The head is large and foamy, and fades away to a thick cap rather than lacing.. A lot of carbonation visible in the glass.
First Sip: a lot of mild, biscuity, almost sweet malts, with a brief citrus lemon flavour. Very mild but long lasting hops on the swallow. Mouth-feel is medium and a bit creamy** and slightly astringent, with a nice carbonation tingle.
Badlands claim they follow the German purity laws but I argue that if they did, they wouldn't call this a Kölsch. It wasn't brewed in Cologne, so it can't be a Kölsch; it's a Kölsch-style. Kölsch is a very yummy beer.
This is a very yummy beer. It reminds me of the afternoon in front of P J Fruh brewpub in Cologne, Brauerei Früh am Dom, washing down a kurrywurst mit pomme frites with the haus bier. What a glorious afternoon that was. And the weather was a lot cooler. I love this beer; I could drink it until I get the wobbly boots. Next time I go to Orange I will certainly get a sixpack. And a meal containing more bacon than I could eat in a week, but that's another story.
Brewbacca Kolsch
Badlands Brewery, Orange NSW
4.9% alc/vol
500ml bottle
*if you are careful. There is yeast sediment in the bottle, so if you get it wrong you pour a very pale, cloudy yellow.
** when you pour the sediment in, otherwise you are Wasting Beer.
Same again, sir? Oh my word yes.
