Not long now to the big Four Seven !

Some of you may know I have this particular affinity with the number 47. This began many years ago when I was 19/20ish years old in the very early Eighties when I was living / working in Grafton. I was in a Rover Crew at the time and we were heading out one Friday evening on a weekend camping trip. I had taken on the responsibility of transporting one of the other crew members who was to say the least "a bit of a character". Being new to the area I commented to "Robo", didn't we cross that same creek a little while ago?....the reply that came back was "yeah, we cross that creek 47 times on this road!"  "Forty Seven times eh!" I replied...This induced some humour for the rest of the trip as Robo had this number stuck in his head for some reason and it cropped up again at camp...It didn't take long for the whole crew to join in. We subsequently never let go of this number....quoting everything to the nearest 47  ie I'll be there in 47 mins or I worked 4.7 days this week..etc.....
Over time I started to notice how this number cropped up out of the blue in everyday life, in the news "47 killed in plane crash" ... " etc. even the 'average contents' listed on a matchbox mysteriously changed from 50 to 47 at one point!
Little things like  glancing at the clock to check the time and noticing you have just happened to look at 9:47 etc...
Now, many years later, I still have this thing about 47...My favourite NRL team, I discovered, entered the competition in 1947!  and I have joined the '47 society' on the internet, a group of similarly '47' obsessed humans whom also have noticed that it's not just any old number!...see this link too.
....and now I am on the brink of turning 47 years of age. I mean, this will be the big one! forget 50...this is the year of all years for me! So excuse me if I have a huge grin on my face on Tuesday...it means a lot to me to get to 47!  and excuse me if I get even more obsessed with 47 this coming year as I'm sure I am going to notice it even more!

cecil

Different

I changed the template for this blog....thought it needed a change.

I'm not restricted now by the fixed column size of the old template so my posts can now utilise more screen width :-{)

ceceel

Update on Holly

...continuing on regarding our sick dog.
Since my last post about her condition I found some info regarding feeding hints for dogs with the same condition. We have been hand feeding her with some supplements , one being Nutrigel, a vitamin supplement in the form of a paste you squeeze out of a tube onto your finger and smear on her tongue.... she likes that one! and the other product is Biolac, which appears to be like baby formula for puppies (same look / smell) which we feed via syringe into the side of her mouth. She's not real keen on it but when it's squirted into your mouth when your owner has your nose pointed up at 45 degrees you have no option but to swallow it!
Then last night (Thursday) whilst I was at TAFE, Michelle offered her a couple of McDonalds burger patties (which she herself (Michelle) does not eat) and she (the dog) ate them!....after which Mikey gave her some tinned dog food which she also ate.
Looks like she has some appetite back, but she is still on the pills and still obviously has balance issues.
We're a lot happier here now! and hoping she keeps eating without us having to force feed her.
Cecil :-)

Vote Earth

Earth Hour are running a campaign at the moment , counting down to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
Vote Earth and show you want action on climate change!



ceceel

Sick as a Dog

..not me! the dog!

Holly to be precise.
Friday morning noticed one of the dogs had vomited up their dinner from the night before...I assumed it was Holly as there was a thunder storm that night and she is terrified of them!...probably unsettled her a lot.
Friday afternoon we noted she was unsteady on her feet, seemingly not able to use her legs properly.
hmmm I thought, summer, vomit, loss of mobility....must be a tick!....of course I couldn't find one could I !
So off to the Vet....
They were initially thinking along the same lines as we were, but with a closer examination after they failed to find a tick, revealed she is suffering from "Geriatric Vestibular Disease"
Geriatric eh!, yeah well, at 14 human years she probably is geriatric in Dog years!
The vestibular disease affects the dog's sense of balance basically, ...according to the vet she feels like the world is spinning constantly, a bit like seasickness, hence the upset stomach and wobbly walk. (looks drunk!)...Her eyes flicked from side to side and her head was tilted most of the time.
Come Monday we had her back at the Vet as she hadn't eaten any food at all over the weekend but the other symptoms hadn't worsened , if anything seemed a little better.
She's had a cortisone injection which can sometimes increase their appetite (wouldn't hurt her as she's been a little arthritic anyway) and having "Vivitonin" pills twice a day to improve the blood circulation to the brain which may improve the function of the vestibular (balance) system and reduce the sick feeling hence making her feel like she can eat!
...so I'm looking on the web now for ideas to get some food into her stomach...I'm thinking liquid diet at this stage as she still drinks water (thankfully)
The reality is if she doesn't improve the best we can do is "make her comfortable" and make the "hard decision" when it's obviously too uncomfortable for her to go on!
....Of course we are all hoping she improves!

cecil :-(

Font

I reloaded my Linux box yesterday with the latest ubuntu release. (from scratch so as to format the drive using the new ext4 filesystem)....so far so good.
But I just wanted to highlight my favourite extra fonts that I generally download after a fresh install.

First there is the obligatory "ttf-mscorefonts" for (my) 2 reasons:
-1. better look to websites...they often look better than with the standard ubuntu fonts as they were probably designed with these microsoft fonts in the first place.
-2. conformity to font requirements for my TAFE assignments. As some teachers are very specific!...(even though I use Open Office instead of M$ Office)

Secondly I like to grab a font package called ttf-aenigma which has 465 free fonts included...which are quite handy for when you are looking for something a bit different.

Both are available via the synaptic package manager.

ceceel

Multi Cultural (Pet) Society

The Pets in our house currently outnumber the Humans and on top of that the majority are minorities!

The only true Aussie is Jack the Budgie. A bit off the wall is our Jack! with some quirky attention seeking ploys, like hanging upside down staring at you if he thinks his seed tray is a little low on tucker or giving you the chat if you don't cover his cage at night!

Bingo is a DSH Cat, lineage unknown but probably British or American....We like to think of her as our English Rose as she has poise, grace and beauty (and a beauty spot on her face) Has an annoying obsession with me....I can't sit anywhere without her wanting to claim my lap!

Garfield is a Persian Cat, our "mad arab" Iranian. He leaves "Bombs" around the house...particularly in Mike's room!!! (don't know exactly why he picks Mike!). Attitude cat with a Capital A.... Frowns a lot!..."Don't touch me!"...getting a cuddle is a rarity from this one!

Claude-Aspen is our Russian Blue Cat, ..obviously originally from Russia, acts like a KGB agent often slashing anyone who he doesn't like at the time (Human or Feline)...but all the same loves to snuggle up to Michelle (Mummy's Boy)

Holly, the Border Collie, originally from England / Scotland border area (Northumberland). The noisiest of the bunch, as she's going deaf in her old age and doesn't realise how loud she is actually barking ....(particlarly at 2am in the @#*!+$ morning ... and she can't hear you yelling at her to shut the @#!% up!)..maybe shes more Scottish...they're brash and loud aren't they?

Douglas, (who doesn't dig as much as Holly) is a (technically miniature) Poodle, popularly thought to be from France (but before the French "standardised" them, apparently from Germany.... no wonder he's so confused!). I don't doubt that Paris is covered in Dog Doo if Doug's toilet habits/placements are a guide.

so there you have it, a brief insight into our multicultural menagerie, ...it's a nuthouse!

ceceel

Movember

I have joined my brother John in team Danger Mice to grow back my moustache to raise funds for Movember, the mens health fundraiser supporting Prostate Cancer and Mens Depression.

I shaved off my old mo around May this year, so I'm ready to grow it back (albeit for a month) for a damn good cause!

That old mo was with me for a long long time, and even though its been off for fiveish months, I'm still not used to the smooth top lip!


If you wish to support these worthy causes please follow the link:

http://au.movember.com/donate/your-details/member_id/266844/





Thanks and Cheers !

Geoffrey

Million Mark Reached

For those following the Danger Mice Folding @ Home progress:
I was reliably informed by email (thanks Pete) that we have surpassed the Million Points milestone.
This is a fantastic achievement and a worthy contribution to the research being performed by Vijay Pande and the team at Stanford University through the Folding @ Home distributed computing program.



The Danger Mice Team welcome any friends and family to join our folding team.

Counting down again

...doing my bit to spread the Linux word (again)

edit:- I downloaded it using the Transmission BitTorrent which worked a charm ... it's now sitting there seeding other downloads.... guess thats one way to help distribute ubuntu!

ceceel

GO EELS

Gotta love the mid season turnaround in performance from my beloved rugby league football team the Parramatta Eels.
Like most other Eels fans, I was shaking my head in the first half of the season at their lack lustre performance and had accepted their then seemingly obvious route to being the wooden spooners of the comp.
But then, the side snapped into consciousness and pulled out seven straight wins to land them at eighth slot on the ladder and into the finals series...the mere fact they pulled off such a huge turnaround to get to the finals had restored my faith (and I was happy with that alone!) but they have now blasted their way into the Grand Final. What an Effort!

GO EELS ! !

Here are my "Eels Supporter"transportation shots.......

Blue and Gold of course!

...love the Plates!
('47 was their first year in the comp)

cecil

The NT has come to us!

Woke up this morning to an eerie glow!

This first pic was taken by Jimmy D through the front door early this morning around 7:30am.
The other photos were taken about 8:45 this morning.....

Apparently it is dust being blown in on the westerly winds from the Northern Territory. Well that saves us a trip to the Red Centre now doesn't it? as it's now covering everything on the East Coast.

Drove the 'Potholes' to school to save their lungs; when I washed the windscreen before take off it created a mud flow!..... hmmm the car wash down the road is going to make a bundle after this blows over!

Contra?

Is it wrong to wash your blood pressure medication down with a cup of coffee?

Arrrrrr !

Arrrrr, ye scurvy blaggards ! don't be forgettin' Talk Like a Pirate Day this September 19th !

under the ton

Just an update for those following my weight loss (probably just me, myself and i. lol)

On Friday morning, officially (on Tony's scales) I weighed in under 100kg . . . . 99kg on the nose! (hey..no smelly man jokes!!!) note: I started at 123kg.
Girth-wise I am now 101cm (down from 122cm).

Getting back down under 100kg was the initial goal. . . . The last few kgs have been tough, which means I'm going to have to be much stricter with myself over the next couple of months if I want to get down below 95. I think I'll have to set myself an award for getting to 90kg which is ultimately where I would like to be. I'm thinking along the lines of a pair of genuine Levi 501'$ which I really like, (fashion victim?) and which I've been way too big for for some time as nobody locally (that I've found) stocks them above a size 38"(97cm) (Don't they think us 'fat bastards' will buy them?)

Guess I'll be living on shakes for a while yet.....

Cecil

P.S. I signed up for Tony's Healthy Rewards Competition which has been a bit of an incentive to lose a bit each week. Who knows, I could end up winning a car! (yeah right!)

Claude-Aspen

Just an update on the new cat.
His name as given by the Holiday Park he came from was "Aspen" after the company that owns the park (Aspen Parks)..... Nice enough I suppose, but we wanted to give him a more appropriate cats name. So as I always wanted to give the name Claude (clawed) to a cat we settled on that. (Also considered Patrick, as in 'Pat the cat').
Now because he was (sort of) used to the name Aspen we decided to give him the official title of Claude-Aspen, which sounds a bit wanky but it kind of suits him as he is a Russian Blue and he looks a bit regal.
There is also an added slant on the name, as we can call him Claude van Damn Cat! when he plays up!.....(after b grade 'actor' Jean Claude van Damme)

cecil

We're Back! (+1)

Got home last night from an absolutely fantastic holiday up in the Whitsundays! and the news is we are expecting a new addition to the Pitts family......

well not brand new... you see, we have adopted a cat from the caravan park we stayed at! A lovely looking, rather overfed, grey cat that was destined for the pound. The park policy is strictly NO PETS and the stray had been hanging around for a month or so and they could not locate an owner. Miss Elle merely asked the staff the cats name, when she was told that it was destined for destruction as no-one had claimed it and the company boss was visiting the park in 2 weeks and it had to be gone by then!
We discussed the situation and decided to offer to adopt the cat on the proviso it was not microchipped/linked to an owner. We took the cat to a Vet at Cannonvale (near Airlie Beach) to see if had a microchip (which it didn't) and then had to purchase a cage suitable for the air flight....Several (read LOTS!) phone calls later Miss Elle had organised a ticket on Virgin to Brisbane where a company named "Dog Tainers" collected it and looked after it overnight before putting it on a Virgin flight to Newcastle today. Hopefully by this evening we will have it home!.....

The End

Finished TAFE yesterday......YAY!!!!

I might see my results next week or the week after.......


cecil

Genetically Engineered Food

I'm not a big fan of Genetically modified food...I really don't see why it's necessary. Some companies are developing foods that are resistant to stronger more dangerous pesticides...seems like that's the total opposite of organic foods which are better for human consumption.(albeit more expensive! there again you can't beat home grown.)

Anyway if you share a concern for the development /sale of GM/GE food you can sign a petition to have all GM food labeled as such....
cheers
Cecil

A Trivial Pursuit?

Some would say that partaking in on line surveys is somewhat of a trivial pursuit. But today, participation with one of my "regular" online survey companies has paid off!
I am participating in a continued survey with regard to board games, the idea being is you play board games with your family over a four week period and answer the survey questions. One of the perks is that you get to choose a game which is then sent to you gratis!
Our game turned up today! - "Trivial Pursuit Family Edition, which has kids cards and adult cards.
... Looks like the perfect weather to stay in and play at the moment as well!

cecil

doing things backwards?

I've come to the conclusion that I'm possibly losing weight at the wrong time of the year. Most people would probably try to lose weight to look good in the summer time...but here "down under" I started my weight loss program at the end of Summer heading into Autumn. We're just experiencing our first coldish weather for the year and I'm starting to wonder if a reduction in "insulation" going into winter is a good thing. I mean bears eat heaps, fatten themselves up and sleep through winter don't they? (not that we have bears here in Oz). In the northern hemisphere they "fatten up" things for Christmas Dinner in their winter. But here am I trying to shed the fat and the cold season is approaching. Shouldn't complain, being a coastal dweller it really does not get that cold here as technically we are in a "Sub Tropical" climate. The up side is we are taking a holiday in the winter up to the warmer latitudes, the Whitsundays region on the Great Barrier Reef...with any luck it might even be warm enough up there to go snorkeling etc....so a few inches off the waistline won't hurt! (Like most middle aged males I am under the delusion that I'm only a few push-ups away from being ripped like Mr Universe...LOL)

....reminds me, must go for a walk today

cecil

treadmill power generation

Just did five k's on the treadmill as it's a bit damp outside today for my daily walk and was thinking...why don't we reverse the technology of the treadmill.....instead of it using power to move the belt for us to walk on why can't we use our legs to push the treadmill belt and generate power to put back into "the grid"!...same thing could work for exercise bikes! I might be a bit more inclined to jump on and sweat out a few k's if it meant I was cutting a few bucks off the power bill.......and get the kids into it....the "potholes" jump over each other here to get a go on the treadmill! "Sure Jimmy, you can watch Cartoon Network..but you provide the power for the TV!"

If the government is giving rebates for us all to install solar panels on our roofs and pump our excess juice back into "the grid" then surely they can cough up a few for us to buy power generating exercise gear...and it would help tackle the obesity epidemic / take some load off our health system....the benefits are enormous!.

And a Gym owner would become a small power plant owner!...not only would he save on his power bill.... he gets to charge his clients for the privilege of saving him money....cool! You could even target the "Green Set"..."Exercise at our Gym and save your life AND the planet!"

... I can feel a business venture coming on

cecil

Bits

Had a blackout last night....ah Energy Australia strikes again!..
......anyway , this morning I had to re-boot the ADSL modem and noted the highest sync speed since changing to ADSL2 ...4918Kbps. Our "distance" from the exchange here when calculated by our downstream attenuation of 51db vs 13.81 db loss per km of copper wire is about 3.7 km's. I suspect I could achieve higher speeds using HSPA mobile technology!!!.
.......roll on the new "high speed" internet infrastructure Mr Rudd!!!! (Though from what I've read our new High Speed is outdated before we even get it.....typical!)

new ubuntu release

The New Release for the Linux Operating System distribution Ubuntu is on the way:



the beta test version is available now.....

cecil

Shake it off!!!

I've been a long time critic of the diet shake industry, but have succumbed to requests from the Princess Bride to join her in a quest to reduce our waistlines, and as have such embarked on a diet shake frenzy!
Now I have to admit...something had to be done...I had blown out to an all time high score of 123 kilos...(I was 115 the month before Christmas...what happened?). A simple walk to the school with the potholes and back had me completely puffed!
I've been "shaking" for a month now and have lost just over 10 "killergrams"...the walk to school and back is a breeze now by comparison and feel I need to extend my walks so I'll start coming home the long way next week.
I don't expect the rate of loss to continue, the next ten are going to be harder to lose I'm sure!
And d'you know what I crave the most?....Vegemite!!!! ...Struth it's hard making breakfast or lunches for the boyz and smelling the 'ol yeast extract!!.....I don't miss all the bread, pasta, rice and spuds etc. at all, and have a renewed love affair with salads and vegies...(I'm still not a big fruit eater).
....Keep on shakin'

Dangerous Rodents!

The Pitts folding@home team has been relaunched by team founder Kiso under the new name Danger Mice. A new website is being constructed by Kiso and Miss Magoo with links to contributing team members pages. New members Keplerspeed and Emu legs are a welcome boost to the team numbers. Currently team Danger Mice have achieved over 158,000 points / 700+ workunits.

...Keep on Folding!

overcommitments

Ah.... football season has hit with the force of a Mack truck this year! 2 of the potholes are playing, with one of them also junior reffing we are in for a big year of football. And trial games...don't get me started!
We have just come home from "Rocketman's" first trial he has another this coming weekend as well as reffing the new SSF (Small Side Football) trial games that "Herbie" is playing in. (also this weekend). Between now and then we have training on two different nights, and the other commitments like Tennis for the "D-Man" , Art class for "Rocketman" and "Herbies" swimming.
Barely time to scratch oneself......

which way is the wind blowing?

....taken from todays Hunter area forecast from the Bureau of Meteorology website.

Forecast for Thursday
Isolated afternoon showers and thunderstorms. Local early fog patches. Light to moderate west to northwest winds tending southeast to northeast.

...that reads... west to northwest winds tending southeast to northeast......

so it's:

a) covering all bases
b) we have absolutely no idea...but there will be wind
c) all directions at once
d) all of the above

Serious Error

...just logged into the Win XP box in the lounge room

up pops the 'ol "Your System has recovered from a serious error" message

so I thinks to myself "The system (windows) IS a serious error!!!"

....but then again I'm glad its not Vista



I'm going back to the Linux box now.....