Not much new to report here, except that it is absolutely stinking hot today! After months of teasing us with wet cold weather, the summer has finally come in earnest...
Oh, and there's a new section on the right - I finally figured out how to put up a banner-link list! It turned out to be so simple anyone with basic HTML coding experience could do it. smacks himself in the head
I'll be looking out for more banners from my favourite sites, so keep your eyes on that space!
EDIT: God, I totally forgot about the bushfire burning out near Yinnar and Boolarra... I will be posting some pictures of the view from our place tomorrow. smacks other side of head
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Bird Disturbing
As you probably noticed, I've retired Dinkycam because I have a nicer camera now.
The other day I went for a walk around town to try and take some nice photos of the area I live in, especially since the weather has been warm enough for me to do so.
I figured I'd be able to get some pictures of the many birds and animals that come in to town. I've seen many different ones, like rosellas, cockatoos, kangaroos and koalas, but have never had a camera handy.
So, I set out for the bushland on the edge of town.
There's a trail that goes up behind the scout hall, through the trees. You'd expect it to go on for some distance, but suddenly, when you reach the top, you get to a barbed-wire fence and you see this:
It's an empty field, that goes on to - nothing. You see nothing but the grass. It's eerie. It's like you are almost on the edge of the world...
So I turned around, and took some pictures of the bushland, which looks nicer than the brown grass in the field.
The other day I went for a walk around town to try and take some nice photos of the area I live in, especially since the weather has been warm enough for me to do so.
I figured I'd be able to get some pictures of the many birds and animals that come in to town. I've seen many different ones, like rosellas, cockatoos, kangaroos and koalas, but have never had a camera handy.
So, I set out for the bushland on the edge of town.
There's a trail that goes up behind the scout hall, through the trees. You'd expect it to go on for some distance, but suddenly, when you reach the top, you get to a barbed-wire fence and you see this:
So I turned around, and took some pictures of the bushland, which looks nicer than the brown grass in the field.
Much nicer. There were heaps of birds flitting around on the ground and in the trees. There were many rosellas hiding in the shrubs, but I couldn't get close enough to take a decent photo of them. The camera only has a 3x zoom on it, which meant I could have taken a photo of some blobby thing sitting something in a tree, but nothing better I'm afraid.
After trying unsuccessfully to capture a decent bird picture, I gave up. I figured pictures of trees were easier to get, the subject not being fussy about posing for me:
After trying unsuccessfully to capture a decent bird picture, I gave up. I figured pictures of trees were easier to get, the subject not being fussy about posing for me:
I kept going around the town, and eventually took some photos of less-colourful birds, such as this magpie who wasn't sure what to make of me:
I then heard a strange bird call coming from one of the trees in front of me. I looked up, and saw a black feathered head peeking out from the leaves, and I realised that it was a black cockatoo! These are supposed to be really rare, almost an endangered species! So I quickly tried to turn my camera back on... but before I could hold it up, the birds (there were two of them in the tree!) flew off behind me. (sad)
Here's a picture of the tree where they used to be:
Onward, and I found some more birds in a different area. Mostly magpies and other common types:
Here's a picture of the tree where they used to be:
But most of the other birds flew off before I could get a good snap of them.
But, it seems that not everything was scared off by me. A little green bug landed on my hand while I was taking pictures:
It was so tiny! I tried to make it fly off, but I guess it didn't want to leave me so easily. I managed to eventually coax it onto a fence post, as it wouldn't have been very convenient for the bug if I'd squashed it or something.
Then, I saw what I thought were a couple of birds, sitting under a tree! I went closer, and they seemed unafraid of me:
Then I found out what they were actually doing:
I disposed of the "birds" thoughtfully.
By now, I had just about given up on seeing any decent bird life. I had plenty of trees to snap, but who hasn't seen a tree before? But then I remembered that there were usually lots of birds down by the lake!
So that was where I went next.
But, it seems that not everything was scared off by me. A little green bug landed on my hand while I was taking pictures:
Then, I saw what I thought were a couple of birds, sitting under a tree! I went closer, and they seemed unafraid of me:
By now, I had just about given up on seeing any decent bird life. I had plenty of trees to snap, but who hasn't seen a tree before? But then I remembered that there were usually lots of birds down by the lake!
So that was where I went next.
As you can tell by these pictures, it was starting to get late, so I headed off back home.
On the way, there was another little pond where water birds were gathering, so I took a couple of pictures of those - but it turned out that there was someone else watching what I was doing:
I moved around so that they could get a better look at me:
I left them to mind their own business, and took some pictures of an old house down by the lake:
And then I decided I'd had enough fun walking around town, and headed home (taking some photos of ducks on the way):
By the time I got back home, my feet were so sore, they were glowing (I could tell, it was really dark by then). I didn't mind - it meant that I managed to get some exercise, and have something to put up on the blog that wasn't just me bitching about my teeth or whinging about work.
If you want to see some more photos of the part of the world I live in, [here's the link to the Picasa album that contains the rest]. It also contains some photos of our backyard, and our cats, if you're into that sort of thing.
On the way, there was another little pond where water birds were gathering, so I took a couple of pictures of those - but it turned out that there was someone else watching what I was doing:
By the time I got back home, my feet were so sore, they were glowing (I could tell, it was really dark by then). I didn't mind - it meant that I managed to get some exercise, and have something to put up on the blog that wasn't just me bitching about my teeth or whinging about work.
If you want to see some more photos of the part of the world I live in, [here's the link to the Picasa album that contains the rest]. It also contains some photos of our backyard, and our cats, if you're into that sort of thing.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Flavors of Entanglement
After I went to the dentist, I decided to get myself another present for being such a good boy oh, all right, I just needed an excuse, so I went and bought myself Alanis Morissette's latest album "Flavors of Entanglement". It's pretty good - I usually don't "get" my albums until I've listened to them a few times, so I'll be listening to it for a while yet. Plus, it rounds out my CD collection nicely!
As a side project, I tried to look up some of Alanis' filmclips on YouTube - and I found some very strange clips indeed!
For instance, this:
A moodier and more, "dramatic"version of the Black Eyed Peas' single "My Humps"?!? WTF?!? Proof that the lady has a sense of humour!
Or this:
Alanis' first ever single, and it's NOT "You Oughta Know".
Warning: song contains early 90s hip-hop-stylin', plus that "Throw your hands in the air!" line that was lyric du jour, oh, about forty years ago... I particularly liked the "You gotta go for gold!" line in the chorus. Of course, it's not enough to keep your love at precisely the right temperature - you also have to somehow summon your inner Olympian! (Or at least a Commonwealth Games participant.)
Then, check this out:
Apparently she used to be known as the Debbie Gibson of Canada early on in her career... can't imagine why...
Bear in mind, she would have been barely out of her twenties here. And, I'll be honest - I actually like this song. Well, it's been stuck in my head ever since I heard it, so...
THIS...
is Alanis' "power ballad", complete with the moody film clip and the key change before the last chorus! This one isn't too bad, though she does get better at the ballads, I promise.
If that's not weird enough, check THIS out.
It's footage of a pre-teen Alanis, when she was a cast member of the Canadian TV show "You Can't Do That On Television"! I used to watch this show all the time when it was screened over here! Ha ha! Watch her and a bunch of other kids get green-slimed! ;P
Okay, it sounds like I'm picking on her. Not true! at least not entirely.
Who among us doesn't have some weird, potentially embarrassing stuff in their past? It's just that in Alanis' case, there happens to be archival footage of it on YouTube... and, though they are definitely relics of a bygone era, they really aren't that bad. You can definitely tell it's her, even in the early clips - there's no mistaking that distinctive voice!
The videos provide a nice contrast for where she is in her career right now, that's for sure. And I kinda wish her first two albums had been released over here...
As a side project, I tried to look up some of Alanis' filmclips on YouTube - and I found some very strange clips indeed!
For instance, this:
Or this:
Warning: song contains early 90s hip-hop-stylin', plus that "Throw your hands in the air!" line that was lyric du jour, oh, about forty years ago... I particularly liked the "You gotta go for gold!" line in the chorus. Of course, it's not enough to keep your love at precisely the right temperature - you also have to somehow summon your inner Olympian! (Or at least a Commonwealth Games participant.)
Then, check this out:
Bear in mind, she would have been barely out of her twenties here. And, I'll be honest - I actually like this song. Well, it's been stuck in my head ever since I heard it, so...
THIS...
is Alanis' "power ballad", complete with the moody film clip and the key change before the last chorus! This one isn't too bad, though she does get better at the ballads, I promise.
If that's not weird enough, check THIS out.
It's footage of a pre-teen Alanis, when she was a cast member of the Canadian TV show "You Can't Do That On Television"! I used to watch this show all the time when it was screened over here! Ha ha! Watch her and a bunch of other kids get green-slimed! ;P
Okay, it sounds like I'm picking on her. Not true! at least not entirely.
Who among us doesn't have some weird, potentially embarrassing stuff in their past? It's just that in Alanis' case, there happens to be archival footage of it on YouTube... and, though they are definitely relics of a bygone era, they really aren't that bad. You can definitely tell it's her, even in the early clips - there's no mistaking that distinctive voice!
The videos provide a nice contrast for where she is in her career right now, that's for sure. And I kinda wish her first two albums had been released over here...
Toothy Update
I finally got to see the dentist today.
I only went in to tell them that the tooth had broken, and that I needed to get an appointment as soon as possible. Just so happened, they had just had an appointment broken by a patient right when I was at the counter, so I managed to get into the chair straight away! Luckily I'd brushed before leaving the house!
It appears that, despite the tooth breaking in half, it was still salvageable. I think he's just going to put a cap on it once the root canal is finished, so that is good news! Although... I was kind of getting used to having a gap (well, half a gap) in that spot - I was always having to grab the dental floss to pull out chunks of food that got stuck in between that tooth and the next. Blech.
For round two of the root canal, I had to have a dental dam placed over my mouth, and he had to use a little MRI-type thing to test the depth of the roots. It was a weird machine that played different tones depending on how far down the probe went, and it's the first time I've been asked if I had a heart condition while sitting in a dentist's chair!
He's put in another temp. filling over the tooth, only this time it's a pink one:
PS. The second-most-disturbing question from a dentist I've ever been asked:
"Er, do you normally take a long time to stop bleeding...?" True story!
I only went in to tell them that the tooth had broken, and that I needed to get an appointment as soon as possible. Just so happened, they had just had an appointment broken by a patient right when I was at the counter, so I managed to get into the chair straight away! Luckily I'd brushed before leaving the house!
It appears that, despite the tooth breaking in half, it was still salvageable. I think he's just going to put a cap on it once the root canal is finished, so that is good news! Although... I was kind of getting used to having a gap (well, half a gap) in that spot - I was always having to grab the dental floss to pull out chunks of food that got stuck in between that tooth and the next. Blech.
For round two of the root canal, I had to have a dental dam placed over my mouth, and he had to use a little MRI-type thing to test the depth of the roots. It was a weird machine that played different tones depending on how far down the probe went, and it's the first time I've been asked if I had a heart condition while sitting in a dentist's chair!
He's put in another temp. filling over the tooth, only this time it's a pink one:
PS. The second-most-disturbing question from a dentist I've ever been asked:
"Er, do you normally take a long time to stop bleeding...?" True story!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Stuff I'm Doing Right Now
Playing:
Castlevania - Portrait of Ruin (DS)Reading:
The Lucy Family Alphabet, By Judith Lucy
Listening:
Past Masters, Vol. I and II - The Beatles
Watching:
...nothing at the moment - I don't really watch TV and movies as much as I used to
Wearing:
The T-shirts Ma made me for Christmas...
New Years' Eve, 2008
Another post-event post...
A New Year has begun... and unfortunately, I had to work for NYE (again!), but it was only for about five hours, and it was pretty dead at work after everyone had got what they needed.
We had a good time for NYE this/last year.
We had some friends over for a few Wii-ing contests in the living room, and played a few rounds of SingStar on a friend's PS2. I think my sister really wants one of those, now that she realises how much fun the game is!
But, after the clock ticked over to midnight, we went outside to see if there were any fireworks happening. I think someone might have let off a flare... but that was it.
It was at this point, when everyone was standing around on the front lawn in the dark waiting for stuff to explode, that I remembered I had some glow stick party favours reserved for this occasion...
They were a bunch of glow-bracelets, which eventually got turned into mini-frisbees, and we flung them at each other on the front lawn! I took some photos, but they were all dark and minimalist... so I turned them all into a composite image. This is it:
I think this picture best sums up the bedlam that took place out the front of out house!
We played for about half an hour on the front lawn, then came back inside all sweaty and grotty from running around the garden. Hey, it was better than watching that stupid Village People movie on Channel Nine. O_o;
We then continued the video-gaming, along with consumption of a ludicrous amount of food and confectionery (I'd brought some old Xmas stock that was RTC at work). And then, eventually, to bed, though I was one of the last standing (mostly because I didn't have to work the next day)!
As for the glow sticks, they all wound up on the shrubbery just outside our front door (those that didn't end up on the roof or in the garden). Most of them were still there for about a week afterwards, and some of them still had a bit of "glow" left in them!
I hope everyone has a good New Year!
A New Year has begun... and unfortunately, I had to work for NYE (again!), but it was only for about five hours, and it was pretty dead at work after everyone had got what they needed.
We had a good time for NYE this/last year.
We had some friends over for a few Wii-ing contests in the living room, and played a few rounds of SingStar on a friend's PS2. I think my sister really wants one of those, now that she realises how much fun the game is!
But, after the clock ticked over to midnight, we went outside to see if there were any fireworks happening. I think someone might have let off a flare... but that was it.
It was at this point, when everyone was standing around on the front lawn in the dark waiting for stuff to explode, that I remembered I had some glow stick party favours reserved for this occasion...
They were a bunch of glow-bracelets, which eventually got turned into mini-frisbees, and we flung them at each other on the front lawn! I took some photos, but they were all dark and minimalist... so I turned them all into a composite image. This is it:
We played for about half an hour on the front lawn, then came back inside all sweaty and grotty from running around the garden. Hey, it was better than watching that stupid Village People movie on Channel Nine. O_o;
We then continued the video-gaming, along with consumption of a ludicrous amount of food and confectionery (I'd brought some old Xmas stock that was RTC at work). And then, eventually, to bed, though I was one of the last standing (mostly because I didn't have to work the next day)!
As for the glow sticks, they all wound up on the shrubbery just outside our front door (those that didn't end up on the roof or in the garden). Most of them were still there for about a week afterwards, and some of them still had a bit of "glow" left in them!
I hope everyone has a good New Year!
Dentition Woes, con't
Okay, remember how I said I had to have part of a root canal done last month?
Well, it just got worse.
Last week, while I was sitting at the computer and eating a muesli bar, I suddenly realised that there was something else in my mouth that definitely wasn't chewy...
I spit out the half-chewed bar, and amongst the oaty-fruity stuff was this:
Yes, THIS IS (or rather WAS) the same tooth that was halfway through the root canal!
[IMG="http://picture_of_money_flying_away.jpg"]
So far, I haven't been able to see the dentist yet (well, it has been the Xmas/NYE period, hasn't it?) but I will be going in to make an appointment as soon as possible.
It doesn't hurt or anything, and I'm not angry so much at the discomfort (or cost) as I am at the complete waste of time this has been! If I'd known that it would just go and break at the least convenient time possible, I would have had it pulled out weeks ago.
Oh, well. Shall keep you all posted.
Well, it just got worse.
Last week, while I was sitting at the computer and eating a muesli bar, I suddenly realised that there was something else in my mouth that definitely wasn't chewy...
I spit out the half-chewed bar, and amongst the oaty-fruity stuff was this:
AAAAARGH!!!
I had a look at my tooth in the mirror, and found my mouth in this state:Yes, THIS IS (or rather WAS) the same tooth that was halfway through the root canal!
So far, I haven't been able to see the dentist yet (well, it has been the Xmas/NYE period, hasn't it?) but I will be going in to make an appointment as soon as possible.
It doesn't hurt or anything, and I'm not angry so much at the discomfort (or cost) as I am at the complete waste of time this has been! If I'd known that it would just go and break at the least convenient time possible, I would have had it pulled out weeks ago.
Oh, well. Shall keep you all posted.
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